Cuttack: The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) conducted raids on various food stalls at the Bali Yatra ground for second consecutive day on Monday. The raids were conducted to prevent stale foods from being served to visitors during the 10-day-long festival.
According to reports, a team of Health and Food Inspection unit of the civic body conducted the raids on food stalls at Killa Maidan or Upara Padia and Tala Padia this morning and destroyed around 70 kg of stale food, which included thumka puri, dahibara aludam, chat, various non-vegetarian items in different stalls.
The officials also warned the food stall owners to avoid use of food colours in the eabtables.
“A 30-member team of officials of heath department and CMC’s food safety department has been formed to ensure quality food served at the fair. Around three quintals of stale food have been destroyed in the raids in the last three days,” informed PK Pradhan, Food Safety Inspector of CMC adding that if any food business operator is found flouting the norms of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), strigent action will be taken against them.
Earlier on Sunday, similar raids were conducted on food stalls and around one and half quintals of food were destroyed by the officials.
On the other hand, lakhs of visitors turned out at the fair ground on Sunday. This year, Bali Yatra event is being organized on 44 acres and features over 1,300 stalls.