SHILLONG, Aug 6: The East Jaintia Hills district administration will wait for the test report of allegedly contaminated ice-cream samples before taking action against the peddlers under relevant sections of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
East Jaintia Hills Deputy Commissioner, Ethelbert Kharmalki said that the case has been handed over to the Assistant Commissioner of Food Safety (ACFS), Jowai who will forward the ice-cream samples to the laboratory for testing.
Kharmalki said that the powder packets seized from the ice-cream factories in the district contained chemicals used for electroplating and cleaning metals.
42 packets of the powder were seized from the ice-cream factories following reports of children falling ill after consuming ice-cream.
“It appears that the powder was used to sweeten the ice-cream,” the DC said, while adding that five factories at Khliehriat and Ladrymbai have been shut down.
Earlier, the district administration had also collected random samples of ice-cream to ensure that they are not contaminated with COVID-19 virus.
The DC has also put a ban on sale of ice-cream in the district till the receipt of the test reports from the authorised laboratory.
