FDA, BMC to inspect ice samples in roadside stalls

More than a week after a report on ice samples collected by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was submitted to it, the state’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) department will be conducting inspections. In a joint inspection along with BMC’s health department, FDA will, on May 11, inspect sugar cane stalls, roadside juice centres, and eateries to check the quality of ice being used.

Of the ice samples collected randomly across the city by BMC, 96 per cent of them were declared contaminated, while 75 per cent were detected with E. coli, which causes health issues like diarrhoea, gastroenteritis and typhoid.

After the report was submitted earlier this week, FDA cracked down on three ice stalls in the city and destroyed the contaminated ice. Speaking about the joint operation, Suresh Annapure, Joint Commissioner Food, FDA, said, “We had a meeting with BMC’s health department two days ago. We have planned to conduct an effective investigation in the matter by involving different authorities. It will be a joint activity.”

Annapure added, “We have already collected over 12 ice samples from different parts of the city after the report was submitted, from sugarcane juice centres, fruit juice centres, ice-cream stalls, hotels.”

Last year, 948 samples of ice were collected by the BMC, of which 92 per cent were contaminated. This year, BMC’s health department started collecting samples from April 1.

Numbers don’t lie

In the last month, 207 cases of gastroenteritis due to contaminated water were registered in Kurla
In 2017, there have been over 2,850 gastroenteritis cases in the city so far.
In 2016, 3,500 cases of gastroenteritis were found