During the hearing on Friday, Senior Government Pleader (GP) S Kannan, placed on record, reports of the police, medical officers and the Commissioner of Food Safety.
The GP confessed that the institution which is suspected of having caused the food poisoning did not have a valid food safety licence and that they have been, in fact, directed not to continue with their operations.
He then added that the Commissionerate of Food Safety has set up more than 32 squads all over the State to conduct surprise inspections, raids, etc.
As regards the follow up action consequent to the horrific incident, Kannan submitted that additional special food safety squads have been constituted and that its efficiency can be seen from the fact that in the last 4 days, 500 inspections have been conducted leading to 43 food business establishments being closed down. 47 notices have been issued for compounding and 115 kg of stale meat have been destroyed with 40 other samples being collected for lab analysis, he said.
The Court recorded these submissions in its order along with a suggestion that if the Health Officers of local self government bodies work in tandem with the Commissionerate of Food Safety, the effectiveness and efficiency of monitoring could be much higher.
Source: Barandbench
