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The Chennai Corporation on Monday conducted raids in many localities and seized food items not conforming to the quality norms. Its officials seized 885 kg of food items from Zone 8 (Kodambakkam) alone, which includes the busy shopping areas in T.Nagar.
The raids were part of the measures of the civic body to prevent the spread of diseases during summer.
As part of the drive, the Corporation officials also seized juices and buttermilk, sold in sachets and bottles that did not have manufacturing details, including the date.
About 130 shops in five of the ten zones of the Corporation were raided. The Corporation Commissioner D. Karthikeyan said the civic body had received several complaints about sale of substandard food items, including some in unhygienic surroundings. The Corporation has decided to conduct such citywide raids periodically.
Besides the Kodambakkam zone, the roadside eateries and shops raided were in Zone 1 (Tondiarpet), Zone 5 (Kilpauk), Zone 6 (Triplicane) and Zone 10 (Adyar). Of the nearly 50 shops raided in Kodambakkam zone nearly 25 shops were in the congested Ranganathan Street in T.Nagar.
“We conducted raids twice today to ensure that hawkers did not sell such items on Ranganathan Street. We also confiscated their belongings. We plan to visit the place regularly,” said an official.
About 10,000 sachets and bottles of soft drinks, curd and butter milk without proper manufacturing details, including batch number and expiry date, were seized from many shops in the five zones.
Health officials said besides warning the shopkeepers against selling substandard products, repeated raids at frequent intervals are planned to prevent such sales.
Officials also seized 20 kg of plastic carry bags whose thickness was less than 40 microns from 12 shops in Zone 4 (Ayanavaram) on Monday.
