{"id":87137,"date":"2019-04-11T15:29:59","date_gmt":"2019-04-11T22:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=87137"},"modified":"2019-04-11T15:29:59","modified_gmt":"2019-04-11T22:29:59","slug":"cmc-raids-colombo-supermarkets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/04\/11\/cmc-raids-colombo-supermarkets\/","title":{"rendered":"CMC raids Colombo supermarkets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

10 April 2019 09:46 Daily Mirror<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of\nsupermarkets within the Colombo Municipality were raided by the Colombo\nMunicipal Council\u2019s (CMC) Health Department officials today to check the\nhygienic conditions and food safety regulations.During these raids, many\noutlets were found to have violated food safety regulations, especially in\nterms of storage regulations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medical\nofficer-in-charge of the City Food Safety and Hygiene Promotion Unit Dr. Subash\nMendis said many deep freezers were found over-stocked.As per the storage\nregulations, at least 20% of free space in a deep freezer should be maintained.\nMany freezers, as well as cold storage rooms, were filthy as they have not been\ncleaned properly. Some outlets had stored both raw materials and pre-cooked\nfood together in the freezers,\u201d Dr. Mendis said.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said they\nwould continue to inspect the temperature of meat and fish samples put on\ndisplay where the temperature was mostly higher than the normal level.The\ntemperature of fish and meat on display should not exceed five degree Celsius. However,\nwe witnessed that the temperature of the frozen food display was up to 15\ndegree Celsius at some supermarkets,\u201d he said.Some supermarkets had also\nviolated label regulations as they have failed to mention the importer and\ndistributor information on the imported food items.The raid was part of the\nCMC\u2019s special food inspection programme which was launched under the\ninstructions of CMCs Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni targeting\nthe New Year festival.Meanwhile, on Tuesday, about 1,000 kg of food items unfit\nfor human consumption was destroyed by health officials.Dr. Wijayamuni, six\nMedical Officers of Health (MOH) and 40 Public Health Inspectors (PHI)\nparticipated in Tuesday\u2019s programme, in which 65 outlets were inspected.A\ntotal of 21 outlets were prosecuted for violating food safety regulations and\noutdated food items at 34 outlets had been destroyed. Approximately 800 kg of\napples, oranges, mandarins and grapes, 134 kg of dry fish and 15 kg Parata were\ndestroyed. About 250 varieties of snacks, such as vegetable rottis, egg rottis\nand samosas were also destroyed,\u201d Dr. Mendis said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There should be large hoarding\nalong road side with a convincing picture to educate the public to watch food\nquality and indicate telephone numbers 24\/7 to complain .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a good idea to check the all\nthe supermarkets. Prolonged power cut would have contributed immensely for\ndeterioration of food quality. I personally noted that when you enter some\nsupermarkets and also certain main Poultry – supplying company you get\nunbearable smell emanating from meat counter.When you express your concern you\nget a frowned face from the managers who will also shoot back and say speak to\nthe power Minister <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I am in the business of\nshipbuilding and repair ,where we try to improve fish quality delivered to the\ncustomers by fishermen ,I have come across the fact that 70% of frozen fish we\nconsume are unsuitable for humans .Once we had \nsome Japanese trade representatives sent from the prime minister\u2019s\noffice to Dikovita Harbour to witness unloading of fish early morning by\nfishermen ( who have been in the sea over \nthree weeks with only few tons of ice to preserve the fish) ,they were\nasking Is this fish for humans or for animals (like dogs ?We were\ndumbfounded .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japanese were studying ways of\nproviding cooling  facilities to fishing\nboats and onshore .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lankan meat and fish products\nare never fresh unless you buy then at the butcher shop or at the shore from\nboats .What we eat is rotten .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government should look at this\nproblem not only during power failure times \nbut all the times there should be quality check of what we consume  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In England when there is a power failure due to the fault of the Electricity Suppliers ,a compensation is paid to the consumers .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.citizensadvice.org.uk\/consumer\/energy\/energy-supply\/problems-with-your-energy-supply\/get-compensation-if-you-have-a-power-cut\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get compensation if you have a power cut<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

You might be able to claim compensation if the electricity or gas supply to your home goes off.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you can claim will depend on:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n