The series of Food Safety inspections ongoing in hotels and eateries in Kerala since the beginning of the month has been extended to juice stalls.
Kerala's Health Minister Veena George said in a Facebook post that Food Safety officers have been directed to check for cleanliness, and quality of fruits, water, ice, and permissible food colours used at fruit stalls.
As part of the drive, 199 juice stalls were inspected on Wednesday and four were found unsafe and closed. Samples were collected from six shops, the minister said.
Besides, 27 juice stalls were served notices. During the inspections, 88 packets of milk, 16kg fruits, 5kg dates and 12 bottles of honey were found to be unsafe and destroyed.
The inspections are being held as part of a newly-formed campaign called 'good food, right of the land'. As part of the campaign, daily inspections are conducted at hotels and shops selling fish and jaggery.
217 eateries shut in 10 days
On the 10th day of the state-wide inspections, 190 shops were raided, of which 16 were shut for functioning without valid license/registration.
While notices were served to 59 shops, 20kg of stale meat was seized and destroyed. To date, 2,373 inspections have taken place at hotels/eateries in Kerala and 217 shops have faced action.
No fewer than 334kg of meat was seized and destroyed in the last ten days.
Under Operation Malsya, 6,361kg of stale and chemical-laced fish has been destroyed by Food Safety officers.