'Food Safety officials collected ₹10 cr from TN eatery outlets in a yr for violations'
In addition, even the State Food Safety Department has been creating awareness among the public about the usage of millet.
Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian at the Millets Confluence 2023. (Twitter/@Subramanian_ma)
CHENNAI: The State Food Safety officials collected fines of Rs 10.76 crore from violators during inspections and food samples tested from the eatery outlets in Tamil Nadu last year, said Health Minister Ma Subramanian during the Millets Confluence 2023 organized by Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research along with Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department on Wednesday.
While addressing the media, the Minister stated that as many as 500 varieties of millet foods were displayed along with the benefits of consumption explained by the students.
In addition, even the State Food Safety Department has been creating awareness among the public about the usage of millet.
“Last year, the food safety officials carried out an inspection in various restaurants in the state, of which 18,000 food samples were collected, and cases registered against 8,000 hotels and fines imposed,” added Subramanian.
In the last two years, at least 853 educational institutions have received eat-right campus certificates from the Food Safety Department in Tamil Nadu. Similarly, to ensure temples are providing better quality foods to the devotees, 637 temples obtained Blissful Hygiene Offering to God (BHOG) quality certificates. It is noted that the state recorded the highest number of certificates distributed under these two categories in the country.
Meanwhile, regarding the incident, an 11-year-old boy was using a teacup instead of an oxygen mask at Uthiramerur Government Hospital in Kancheepuram, the Health Minister said that even though the senior doctor advised to provide an oxygen mask for the kid, the parent chose to use teacup since it has been used by other patients, and after a prolonged argument between the child’s parent and nurse they have decided to use the cup for breathing.
“However, we have instructed the DMS to act against it because the nurses should have not violated the hospital norms. There is no shortage of O2 masks as the hospital has sufficient oxygen masks for both adults and children,” said Subramanian.
