Staff Correspondent
Hut Bay, Oct 10: Little Andaman is a large Island but sadly in Little Andaman there is no Food Safety Officer. As a result there is no inspection on the quality and Standard of Food sold in market.
Everytime fishes and meat are transported to Southern group of Islands especially to Car Nicobar, Kamota and Campbell bay and these are stored in thermocol boxes without sufficient cooling. There is need to check each and every consignment by Food Safety Officer of Hut Bay to make sure that sufficient ice packs are there, enough to prevent deterioration.
Often people put less ice inside the box to send more and more fishes and meat to make more profit.
Fishes and meat are liable to perish if not properly transported in cold Chain. The Deputy Commissioner needs to take stock of the situation under whose overall supervision the Food Safety officers are working.
There is need for inspection of all food shops unit especially during market hours from 3 to 7 pm by surprise inspections so that quality is assured on regular basis. Since Food Safety Officials are not carrying out inspections regularly the quality and standards of food substances are not properly regulated. It needs to be mandatory that every shop has an inspection register and the officer invariable enter the details of visit so that higher officer can ensure that the Food Safety Officers are making regular inspections.
