Food inspectors to tighten vigil on wheat mills

KOLKATA: In a bid to ensure quality in production and packaging of chakki atta, the state food department will deploy food inspectors for keeping a vigil in the wheat mills across the state. The inspectors will function in similar pattern as state excise inspectors who keep an eye on the production and packaging of liquor. They will work for a month and then will come back again on a rotational basis after 80 months. In this way these inspectors will keep an eye on all 80 wheat mills across the state.

“We have found that some unscrupulous traders associated with the wheat mills have been illegally extracting sooji and flour from wheat resulting in deterioration of the quality. They are also using inferior quality of plastic for packaging. The stitching too is often found to be of poor quality. We want to put an end to this malpractice as we will not compromise with the quality and food value of atta,” state food minister Jyotipriya Mallick said.

The state food department is preparing a directive for the wheat mills that they have to abide by to ensure quality of the stuff. People involved in manufacture and packaging will have to wear special shoes, gloves on their hands and apron. The room where the manufacturing process will take place will be sealed with glass. The floors should be covered with tiles or marbles. “We will soon float tender for overhauling the infrastructure of the flour mills to make it dust-proof. Those who will follow this scientific way of extracting atta from wheat will only be given the licence to function,” Mr Mallick said.

According to the food department, packaging should be done in 50 or 55 micron plastic. The stitching of the packets should be with modern stitching machines. The packet should mention the manufacturing, expiry as well as the food value of the components of atta on the pack.

The Mamata Banerjee government under the Khadya Sathi project has been providing wheat and rice at `2 per kg to more than 7 crore people in the state. However, the state has started the process of providing packaged atta extracted from wheat to the people residing in remote areas of Paschim Medinipur and the tea gardens of North Bengal. at a subsidised rate. “These people have to bear huge travel cost to reach the wheat mills to extract atta from wheat. So we are providing them packaged atta instead of wheat,” a food department official said.