Members of a joint squad check food quality at a kiosk on Bali yatra ground in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Nov. 19: A joint health squad of the district administration and the civic body has launched a crackdown to prevent sale of stale food at the Bali yatra venue.

Around three quintals of stale food was seized during a surprise raid conducted today. An official said that more than five quintals of stale food had been seized during the raid in the last two days.

“As part of our regular enforcement during Bali yatra, today we have seized and subsequently destroyed about three quintals of food which we found to be unfit for consumption,” said city health officer P.K. Pradhan.

Pradhan said sanitary workers had been asked to destroy the stale food items after treating it with bleaching powder.

Official sources said that the health squad had detected a lot of violations during its raid. Many traders were preparing various fast food and other items in bulk quantities in anticipation of huge turnout of visitors. However, as the turnout of visitors has not been satisfactory so far, bulk of the food items remains unsold. To avoid sustaining loss, some traders are mixing stale food along with fresh items.

As such a practice may cause serious health hazards for the visitors, the health squad has been asked to strictly ensure that no stale food is served during the weeklong fair. “Apart from stale food, we are also seizing packaged food items that do not carry manufacturing or expiry dates. Besides, the quality of spices, ketchups and use of other adulterated products, including edible oil, is also being thoroughly checked,” said food inspector Pravakar Pradhan.

Pradhan further said that the joint squad was carrying out raids on various kiosks twice every day and such inspection would continue till Bali yatra ended on Sunday.

“We are happy that the quality of food is being checked, which will certainly play a crucial role in ensuring that visitors like us do not face any kind of health problems after eating at the fair,” said Ushashree Pati, a visitor.

Around 1,300 kiosks selling food, handicrafts, and electronic items have come up at the Bali yatra venue, which was visited by more than four lakh people in the last two days.