Food adulteration: UP restaurants asked to install CCTVs, eateries to display names of proprietors
Lucknow, Sep 24: Taking cognisance of incidents of spitting and mixing of urine in eatables in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday directed that the name and address of operators, proprietors and managers should be mandatorily displayed at all food centres.
He also directed that chefs and waiters should wear masks and gloves besides making installation of CCTVs in hotels and restaurants mandatory.
Addressing a high-level meeting here, Adityanath said the presence of human waste in food items was disgusting and ordered strict action against those who adulterate food items with human waste or dirty things, an official statement said.
On September 12, a purported video showing a teenager spitting on rotis while preparing them at an eatery in Saharanpur district went viral on social media, leading to the arrest of the facility's owner.
Last week, a juice vendor in Ghaziabad district was arrested for allegedly serving fruit juices mixed with urine to customers. In June, two men were arrested by police in Noida for allegedly selling juice contaminated with their spits.
In view of such incidents, the chief minister has also given instructions for thorough investigation, verification of all hotels, dhabas, restaurants, and related establishments in the state.
Instructions were also given to amend the rules as per the need while ensuring the health safety of the general public.
Adiyanath said, "Dhabas, restaurants and food establishments should be thoroughly investigated and police verification of every employee should be done and necessary amendments should also be made in the Food Safety and Standards Act to ensure the purity and sanctity of food items."
According to the statement, now it will be mandatory to display the name and address of the operator, proprietor, manager etc. at the food centres.
"Now whether it is a chef or a waiter, they will have to wear masks and gloves and it will be mandatory to install CCTV in hotels/restaurants," the chief minister said.
In the meeting, Adityanath said in recent times, incidents of adulteration of food items like juice, pulses and roti with human waste, and dirty things have been seen in various parts of the country.
"Such incidents are gruesome and have an adverse effect on the health of the common man. Such efforts cannot be accepted at all," he said.
Concrete arrangements are necessary to prevent such incidents in Uttar Pradesh, he said, adding that by running a state-wide intensive campaign, verification of all the employees working there including the operators of these food establishments should be done.
The chief minister said this action should be completed quickly by a joint team of Food Safety and Drug Administration, police and local administration.
Earlier this year, the Uttar Pradesh government had mandated it for food stalls and fruit vendors along Kanwar Yatra routes to display the names of shop owners. The government argued the directive, which was criticised by a section of people, was aimed at promoting transparency and informed choice of Kanwariya regarding the food they eat.
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ED team attacked in Delhi during raids in cyber crime case
New Delhi (PTI): An Enforcement Directorate team undertaking searches in a cyber fraud linked money laundering case was allegedly attacked here on Thursday, officials said.
The agency has registered a police FIR about the incident that took place at a farmhouse that was raided by ED officials in the Bijwasan area of the national capital that falls under the Kapashera police station in southwest Delhi.
An Enforcement Officer (EO) suffered minor injuries during the attack. He is continuing with the searches after he was given first aid, officials said.
The probe pertains to a case against the PYYPL app.
The alleged accused in the case, including Ashok Sharma and his brother, allegedly attacked the ED team. The situation is under control and searches are going on, the sources said.
The search operations, according to sources, has been launched after the ED got inputs from the I4C and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) about cyber crimes like phishing, QR code cheating, part time job fraud leading to fraud with many people.
It was found that money earned through this cyber fraud was being layered through as many as 15,000 'mule' accounts and withdrawn using debit and credit cards.
Using these cards, it was found, money was remitted to top up virtual accounts on UAE-based Pyypl payment aggregator and subsequently funds were used from Pyypl to buy crypto currency.
The network was being run by some Chartered Accountants (CAs), the sources claimed.
