Surprise raid in Kandra shops yields banned tobacco products

Mail News Service

Gamharia, March 23: On the instructions of Seraikela Sub-Divisional Officer Ramkrishna Kumar, Food Safety Officer Moin Akhtar led a team that conducted surprise inspection at various Kandra shops. The Food Safety Department team checked the quality of goods including food items like milk, curd, bread, soft drinks, snacks and other items for sale in shops. During the inspection, a large quantity of banned gutkha and pan masala were seized from M/s Vishwakarma Store on Kandra Station Road. The shopkeeper was fined Rs 2,500 on the spot and warned against storage of banned tobacco products in future.

Kandra Main Road Shopkeepers Jiten Gorai, Krishna Pal and Vinod Kumar were fined Rs 200 each under the COTPA Act for selling banned gutkha. Three bottles of cold drinks with expired dates were found at Uttam Variety Store and the products were destroyed on the spot. Shopkeepers were warned against selling products that did not have FSSAI license numbers, date of manufacture, batch number and expiry dates mentioned on the labels. The inspection team also included Food Inspector Santosh Kumar Sahu.