Thiruvananthapuram: Wonder what goes into that glass of your favourite juice that you consume on a hot day? Office of the Commissioner of Food Safety will be launching a special drive this week to find out just that. The department plans to bring several items they have identified as high risk food items under the scanner. “We shall inspect the manufacturing, storing and distribution of various high risk food items,” Joint Commissioner of Food Safety D Ashrafudeen said. “They include fruit juices, squashes, concentrates, syrups, milk and milk products.”
While many fruit juice vendors claim that they use bottled water, some of the established vendors in the capital city have put up boards claiming that they use filtered water. There is fear that the ice cubes many use lack hygiene, though they assure you otherwise. “We bring ice from a place in Beemapalli, said Ibrahim, who sells ‘kulukki sarbath’ near Law College. “This is not the ice you use for storing fish. This is cleaner.” Using stale milk in the milk shakes is another point of concern. Soniya, a housewife, says, “We are not sure how things are made. So we never buy such stuff.”
The vendors make such brisk business these days that they measure temperature not in degrees, but in the number of orders they got. “Tuesday was hotter than Wednesday. There were more than 300 orders of the mixed vegetable juice, a specialty of ours,” says Suresh Babu, a vendor. The prices of fruit have also soaring as many are going out of season. “However it has not affected the price of fruit juices,” said Mr Suresh Babu.
