Rajkot: One month jail for selling unsafe food

RAJKOT: Holding the owner of a ‘gruh udhyog’ guilty of selling unsafe food and operating the business without a licence, the Rajkot Municipal court sentenced him to one month’s imprisonment. The adjudicating authority under the Food Safety and Standards Act also imposed fines on three other establishments, including Khadi Bhandar, after their products were found to be of substandard quality.
According to a statement issued by Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), health department officials had collected the samples of coconut ‘laddu’ from Om Gruh Udhyog in October 2015. The sweet was declared unsafe for consumption by the food analysts as it contained more than permissible amount of tartrazine colour, which is used to give a yellow hue to food products.
The municipal court, on June 30, sentenced one month’s imprisonment to the owner Hiralal Rochvani and also imposed a fine of Rs 2,500 for selling unsafe food and operating a business without proper license.
In another case, more than permissible iodine was found in the refined iodised salt sold by Taj Salt Suppliers. Holding Akbarali Rajani, the owner of retail firm, wholesaler Deepak Meghani and producer Koteshwar Chemfood responsible for the act, the court sentenced the trio to pay a fine of Rs 1.25 lakh.