Vijayawada/Visakhapatnam: Officials of the vigilance and enforcement department, along with the Food Safety And Standards department, conducted raids on various units involved in adulterating food in Vijayawada and at KG Hospital in Vizag on Thursday. In Vijayawada, officials raided the TPR Traders at Katuri vari street in Machavaram which was adulterating ghee and marketing it in the name of Vijaya Ghee. The food safety officials found that one Gollapalli Trinadh Rao was preparing adulterated ghee and repacking papads of poor quality with fake stickers of various reputed brands.
The vigilance officials ceased 66 kg adulterated ghee and papad stocks and complained to the police. In Gandhinagar, Bhagyalakshmi Enterprises, owned by Annam Poornachandra Rao, was found repacking all types of dry fruits imported from Mumbai, adding food colors. Food safety officials found that the dry fruits were of poor quality and affected with fungus. The officials seized stocks worth of Rs 25 lakh. Police booked a case against Poornachandra Rao.
Later, the officials sealed Raj Foods at Bhavanipuram which was preparing instant badam and flavored milk powders with harmful chemical flavours. They also took samples from Maya Foods at Kabela Centre preparing fried chips. Regional Food Safety & Standards inspector Poornachandra Rao said they have raided units adulterating foods following the directions of district collector B. Lakshmikantham.
After a series of complaints about the pathetic state of the canteen for patients and their attendants inside the KG Hospital in Vizag city, the food safety wing of GVMC, led by food inspector G.V. Appa Rao on Thursday, conducted a surprise raid on the canteen and collected samples. The food inspector said that Y. Koteswara Rao from Vijayawada has been running the canteen (DIET Canteen) at KGH.
As per the agreement with the government, the canteen is supposed to supply quality meals to patients at KG Hospital. “We have observed several violations as the quality of rice was poor and similarly, the quality of sambar, curries and eggs were also not good for consumption by patients,” said Mr Appa Rao. “It is not at all suitable for consumption by the patients.”
“We have collected the samples and sent them to the laboratory in Hyderabad and will act against the contractor based on the report,” he said. Sources said the government, earlier, had terminated the agreement with the contractor K. Durga Reddy, as he supplied very poor quality of food to the patients, following reports from the food safety wing of the GVMC two years ago.
