Lucknow: With the start of the festival season and Rakhabandhan a day away, the Food Safety and Drug Administration has intensified its crackdown on adulterated food items and the transportation of food items under unhygienic conditions. A special overnight campaign was carried out from midnight on Aug 25-26 until dawn, during which enforcement teams carried out intensive inspection of food-laden vehicles at toll plazas, highways and connecting roads across several districts.During the campaign, 97 vehicles were inspected and irregularities were found in 28 vehicles. These included suspected adulterated or confirmed adulterated food products, and items being transported under unhygienic conditions. Food safety officers collected 35 samples for laboratory testing. Also, around 16.3 quintals of food products, valued at approximately Rs 20 lakh, were found stored or being transported under unsafe and unhygienic conditions and were subsequently destroyed on the spot.A govt spokesperson said that due to an increase in demand for sweets during the festival season, the consumption of khoya, paneer, milk, namkeen and other food products has increased, requiring the department to increase surveillance on important routes in the supply chain.During an inspection of a vehicle on the Delhi highway in Mathura, around 1,200kg of paneer was caught, the quality of which was suspicious. Paneer worth approximately Rs 3 lakh was destroyed on the spot.Two vehicles were inspected on the highway in Meerut in which around 10 quintals of khoya was being transported in unhygienic conditions. Khoya worth approximately Rs 3.3 lakh was destroyed and two samples were collected for testing.
