THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the wake of reports on the presence of Mono Sodium glutamate (MSG) beyond permissible levels, the Kerala Government has ordered the Commissionerate of Food Safety to intensify drives in every district.
A high level meeting convened by Food Minister Anoop Jacob and Health Minister V S Sivakumar has decided to form district level squads to keep track on these drives.
The squads would ensure that Maggi is not sold in the open market. The Ministers have given strict instructions to carry out week-long inspections at every shop to ensure that the product is totally prohibited in the state.
The meeting has also directed the officials to carry out checks at hotels and restaurants across the state to ensure that taste enhancers and MSG are not used in hotel foods. The food safety commissioner will be submitting a report on the drive on a daily basis to the government.
The meeting deployed the Health Secretary K Elangovan to hold discussions with the High Court registrar to speed up all the cases relating to adulteration that are pending for a long time now.
The meeting was attended by Civil Supplies Secretary G Kamalavardhan, Food Safety joint commissioner K Anilkumar, Food safety joint commissioner (Enforcement) D Ashraf and Assistant Food Safety Commissioner D Sivakumar.
