Ahmedabad: How many times have you gone to a shop and wondered about the quality of the mithai (sweets) and farsan (snacks) on display? Soon, you will be able to determine that on the spot. The civic body has directed every sweet and farsan outlet to keep testing kits on hand so customers can demand preliminary checks of items such as mawa, paneer, ghee and silver foil.If a sample fails, legal action will be taken as per the regulations.The quality of sweets and snacks sold in shops across the city was discussed during the standing committee meeting held on Thursday.
Sweet shops in Ahmedabad to keep on-the-spot food checking kits
Standing committee chairperson Kamlesh Patel said health and food department had intensified inspections to prevent food adulteration, especially during the festive season.Managers of all sweet and farsan shops have been asked to procure the kits at their own cost and keep it in a visible location. They have to make them available when customers request a preliminary check. The tests will mainly cover the purity of mawa, the presence of starch in khoya, sweets and paneer, non-permitted colours, artificial saffron, adulteration of ghee with vegetable fat and the quality of silver foil, or varakh, used on sweets such as kaju katli. “Merchants must use the testing kits properly,” said the chairperson.The kits are expected to contain nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, iodine solution, furfural solution or sugar crystals, a Petri dish, a stoppered test tube, a glass rod and tissue paper.A positive or negative spot test will not, by itself, establish whether a product is legally unsafe or adulterated. Statutory action will require official sampling and laboratory analysis, as per food-safety regulations.Dr Tejas Shah, deputy health officer, has written to Ahmedabad Mithai and Farsan Association asking its members to make the necessary arrangements.AMC has also directed around 1,100 hotels in the city to install CCTV cameras in their kitchens. The cameras are intended to give customers a view of food-preparation areas and improve transparency. Hotel operators have been asked to complete the installation within the timeframe specified by the civic body.Other directions for sweet and farsan shops include monitoring frying oil and discontinuing its use if total polar compounds exceed 25%, avoiding non-permitted colours, ensuring that ghee, khoya, paneer and saffron meet applicable FSSAI standards, and following hygiene and sanitation requirements under Schedule 4.“If citizens have any complaints regarding food items, they can inform the concerned authorities. Helpline number 155303 can be used to lodge complaints,” said Kamlesh Patel.The corporation will also raise awareness about on-the-spot testing through media channels so that citizens can exercise necessary precautions regarding the quality of food they buy.
