Cuttack, June 14: The health squad of the municipal corporation will regularly monitor the quality of packaged food sold at the various shopping malls in the city.

The move is aimed at devising a common strategy to ensure quality and also to keep a tab on the sale of adulterated food products that might adversely effect the health of consumers.

Senior officials said the focus would be on quality and the health wing had already started collecting samples of aerated soft drinks of various brands.

"We have sent nine bottles of a particular soft drink brand bearing the same batch number from a store at Matamatha for further testing," said city health officer P.K. Pradhan.

Following a complaint by a consumer that there was huge difference in the taste of the drink purchased from the particular store, the samples were collected yesterday and sent to Bhubaneswar for testing today.

Preliminary inquiries revealed that most food items, including soft drinks, being sold at the store had unique batch number, manufacturing as well as expiry dates. Pradhan said that based on the lab reports, appropriate action would be taken against the store as well as the company engaged in the manufacturing of the aerated drink if there were any irregularities.

Senior officials said there have been frequent complaints of suspended materials found in various bottles of soft drinks that this has become a major cause for concern. It is suspected that some people may be engaged in the production of adulterated food items, particularly soft drinks, which are now being sold in the name of reputed brands.

"We hope that there is regular review of food products," said Vaibhav Jain, a resident of Mahatab road in the city. He stressed on the importance of the Union government tightening food safety standard norms.

Civic officials said following instructions, the state government was conducting regular inspections to ensure that Maggi was not sold. Besides, a special squad has also been formed to put a check on the sale of stale food in various hotels, restaurants and various roadside eateries in the city. On an average, the squad is destroying over 100kg of stale food every day.

The squad has also been instructed to collect water samples, check whether proper sanitation and hygiene was being maintained in the preparation of food at the various fast food joints in the city.

A special drive will also be launched during the rainy season that will be conducted on specific dates at major commercial and popular food joints.