Acting harsh, MC destroys 70 kg unhealthy sweets, challans shopkeeper

Though the Ludhiana health department is yet to start checking of unhealthy sweets, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (MC) acting against the unsanitary conditions destroyed 70 kg unhealthy sweets at Parkash Sweet Shop near Mat Di Chakki at Shimlapuri on Saturday.

The MC team conducted a surprise raid and found flies in sugar syrup for sweets. They also found insects in the boxes in which prepared rasgullas and other sweets were displayed.

The team led by MC additional commissioner Rishipal Singh, health officer Dr Vipal Malhotra and others also found that food items were being prepared under unsanitary conditions, thus giving open invitation to multiple health problems.

Malhotra said, “The team destroyed 70 kg unhealthy sweets and also issued a challan to the sweet shop owner.”

“The team was shocked to see waste and filth at the kitchen. The containers in which sweets were kept were not even covered. Flies were there inside the covered storage cabins kept at the shop,” he said.

He said, “We are already running a campaign against sale of unhealthy food items in city. We have challaned more than 200 eateries, meat shops and street vendors for serving unhealthy food items recently.”

It is pertinent to mention here that the food samples were collected by Ludhiana district health officer, but they are yet to proceed in the matter. An MC official claimed that they could not take samples as it was the responsibility of district health department.

Sources said the sweetmeat shops owners have already started arrangements to prepare sweets for the festive season. They claimed that many sweet shops prepare low-quality sweets in absence of any proper check. Sources also claimed that the health department is not serious in collecting samples from shops.

When contacted, district health officer Dr Abnash Kumar was not aware about the MC raid. However, he claimed, “We are collecting samples to check quality of food items. We will also launch a special drive to check the preparation and quality of sweets at different sweetmeat shops in the district.”