To stop the sale of adulterated and unsafe food items before the festival of Diwali, the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department in Gautam Buddha Nagar has intensified the investigation campaign. On October 24 and 25, different teams of the department raided 18 warehouses and stores of the online food delivery platform and investigated. During this period, improvement notices were issued to 16 stores due to lack of cleanliness and necessary documents not being available on spot. At the same time, three samples of cheese, peanuts and sesame oil have been taken and sent to the laboratory for testing.
As part of the campaign conducted on the instructions of the District Magistrate, the Food Safety Department team inspected the warehouse of Big Basket and Blinkit located at Ecotech-3, Greater Noida. Improvement notices were issued when the cleanliness arrangements were not found satisfactory and necessary records were not presented on the spot. The department took action when deficiencies were found in Zomato Hypermart also.
Food department team also reached these stores
Swiggy and Zomato Hypermart located in Dadri were also investigated. Paneer sample was taken from Zomato Hypermart. Apart from this, notice was issued for lack of cleanliness and non-availability of necessary documents.
Food Safety Department teams also inspected Blinkit stores located in Surajpur, Beta-1 Greater Noida and Sector-62 of Noida. Improvement notices were given for not making proper arrangements for cleanliness at these stores and not submitting the necessary records on time. A sample of peanuts was taken from Blinkit store located in Surajpur.
Similarly, a sample of sesame oil was collected from the store of PJ TJ Technology Private Limited located in Mathurapur, Greater Noida. All three samples have been sent to the laboratory for quality testing. After their investigation report comes, the situation regarding the quality of food items will become clear.
Dirt found in Zepto's cold room, operations stopped
During inspection of Zepto store located in Sector-135, Noida, dirt and disorder was found in the cold room. On this, the Food Safety Department stopped the operation of the cold room until necessary improvements were made. Due to non-availability of necessary records on the spot, an improvement notice was also issued to the store.
Which stores were investigated?
Apart from this, Geomart located at P-1 Greater Noida, KV Enterprises and Zepto Store located at P-3, A & D Network Private Limited located at Ecotech-4, Ithera, PYD Retail Private Limited (Swiggy Store) located at Sector-128 Noida, Zepto Dark Store located at Shahdara Noida and Amazon Store located at Tugalpur were also investigated.
Deficiencies were also found in the documents
During the inspection, at many stores, necessary documents like health certificates of workers, pest control report and standard operating procedure (SOP) related to premature removal of expired food items from the store were not produced on the spot. The department has instructed the concerned establishments to make necessary corrections and keep all the documents safe at the store.
The Food Safety Department has warned all concerned establishments that food items should be procured and delivered to consumers only by following food safety standards. Instructions have also been given to remove the shortcomings found during inspection.
Investigation campaign will continue till Diwali
Assistant Commissioner Food II Sarvesh Mishra said that on the instructions of the District Magistrate, food establishments are being inspected in view of Diwali. Under the campaign, samples of food items are being taken and their quality is being tested. He said that the testing campaign will continue in the future also, so that pure and safe food and beverages can be made available to the people of the district as per the prescribed standards.