Lucknow: Intensifying its inspection of food items before Diwali, the UP Food Safety and Drug Administration carried out checks at sweet and other food manufacturing establishments in Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Ayodhya and Prayagraj. An official said 69 teams carried out inspections of 116 food establishments and collected 149 food samples. Teams issued 96 improvement notices, seized 655 kg of food items and destroyed 537 kg of material worth Rs 1.98 lakh. For serious irregularities, nine establishments were shut down.During the inspection, several violations came to light, including serious neglect of hygiene standards in many establishments. In some places, sweets were found kept directly on dirty floors, while at others, cockroaches, flies, rat droppings and cobwebs were found at manufacturing sites. In some establishments, cases of use of banned chemicals and operation of food businesses without a licence also surfaced.In Kanpur Nagar, extreme filth and a foul smell were found at the manufacturing site of a sweet shop. Food items were being stored in unhygienic conditions and the drainage system was also found clogged. In Gorakhpur, extreme filth was found at a manufacturing unit. Its walls were broken, and garbage was found on the premises. One establishment did not have a food business licence.In Meerut, one sweet shop was caught using banned chemicals, along with non-food-grade sodium bicarbonate. In addition, the establishment’s drainage system was found to be poor, and adequate arrangements for pest control were also not found.Teams found raw material being stored directly on the floor at a sweet shop in Ghaziabad, while cockroaches and insects were found at a storage site in Sahibabad. In Ayodhya, sweets were being stored amid filth and contaminated water. At one establishment, dirty water had accumulated on the floor and food ingredients were kept at the same spot. A foul smell spread across the entire premises.
