Kolkata: Twenty-eight of over 60 establishments, whose licences were suspended during a food safety drive in Sept, have reopened within a month. After compliance checks conducted by the food safety inspectors, the suspension notices were revoked. Some of such establishments are sweetshops.Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials said most of the establishments that reopened had applied to them. During the checks, the food safety inspectors have found that the owners had made necessary changes after the first round of inspection.According to the officials, these establishments were now fit for operations.“Only twenty-eight establishments had applied for reopening. The rest of the establishments are yet to apply. Many of those, who have received the nod to operate, are sweetshops,” said the official.Officials said Durga Puja, the days leading to the Puja and the days after the Puja are brisk business times for eateries and sweetshops. “We expected all of them to at least apply for inspection, but many are yet to apply,” he said.The BL Saha Road factory of Balaram Mullick and Radharaman Mullick had been shut following the special food safety drive between Sept 1 and Sept 7. The factory resumed operations recently.Officials said they were also serving notices to many establishments whose samples were found to be short of FSSAI standards.The notices carry the lab reports of the samples collected from the establishments.The eateries have a month to contest the laboratory findings.“If they do not challenge the test results within the stipulated period, they will be summoned for adjudication and informed of the penalty they have to pay,” a KMC official said. Establishments that dispute the findings will be given one of the preserved samples collected during the inspection. The sample can then be tested at any NABL- accredited laboratory, the official added.
