Food Safety Department raids hotels and shops in Panagarh, strict warnings to owners
Panagarh and Kanksa, September 2: Keeping the health safety of the state's common people in mind and acting on Nabanna's strict directives that playing with public health will not be tolerated, the administration has sprung into action. Over the past few days, the State Food Safety Department has been conducting continuous raids on hotels, restaurants, sweet shops, and food marketing centers across Kolkata and the entire state. This strict stance has been taken by the administration after serious allegations came to light regarding the sale of stale and rotten food, cooking in unhygienic environments, use of low-quality spices, and storage of expired food items. As part of this state-wide drive, extensive searches and inspections have now begun across Paschim Bardhaman district. Alongside hotels and restaurants, roadside small eateries, fast food carts, and even mobile food stalls are not being spared.
As part of this operation, a special joint drive was conducted from Wednesday morning in various crowded areas of Panagarh market by a team of government officials. During today's surprise raid, along with designated officers of the Food Safety Department, the Inspector-in-Charge (IC) of Kanksa police station, Kanksa Block Development Officer (BDO) Sourav Gupta, and other senior officials of the local administration were actively present. Seeing this administrative team suddenly enter the market, temporary panic and anxiety spread among food business operators.
Starting Wednesday morning, this joint team of government officials raided several prominent sweet shops, hotels, restaurants, and popular biryani counters in Panagarh market one by one. From the interiors of the shops to the cleanliness of the kitchens, the source of water used for cooking, cooking oil turned toxic from repeated use, the quality of spices, and the expiry dates of raw and cooked food stored in refrigerators were thoroughly examined. Upon finding direct evidence of stale food, rotten ingredients stored in refrigerators, and food preparation in extremely unhygienic environments in several hotels and sweet shops, the officials expressed deep dissatisfaction. Shop owners were sternly warned in the primary stage and clearly informed that facing major penalties would be inevitable if such irregularities continued in the future. Additionally, several samples of suspected food items and oil have been collected and sent to laboratories to verify their quality.
Concluding today's surprise raid, administrative officials gave a clear message to the media that no compromise will be made with public health. There are very strict guidelines from the state government in this regard as well. If anyone sells stale, rotten, or low-quality food out of greed for extra profit without caring for public health, strict legal action will be taken against them. Not only legal steps, but common consumers have also been urged by the administration to be more aware in this regard. Furthermore, the administration made it clear that this type of drive is not just a one-off event; keeping public interest in mind, these search operations will continue relentlessly in various parts of Paschim Bardhaman district in the coming days as well.
Investigating officials further detailed that the main objective of today's drive was to check whether all specific rules and guidelines required to operate hotels, restaurants, and sweet shops under the Food Safety Standards Act were being properly followed. During the inspection, discrepancies in food ingredients and various license-related irregularities were noticed in several establishments. Although, considering the nature and circumstances of the first-time offense, instead of imposing heavy fines, they were given a stern warning and instructed to conduct business within the specified rules. However, due to this strict step by the administration, considerable panic and alertness are already noticeable among dishonest food traders in the Panagarh and Kanksa regions.
