Big Bazaar outlet issued notice for 'misbranding'

The BBMP’s Health department has served a notice on Big Bazaar’s Koramangala outlet for allegedly selling misbranded food items.

The BBMP officials have closed down the store till further orders and have asked the store authorities to provide a detailed report on the food commodities being sold at their store.

Acting on a tip-off by the crew of a regional news channel, the department officials along with the inspectors of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) raided and inspected the food items sold at Big Bazaar stores across the City.

During the raid at the Koramangala store, the officers asked the customers to leave the place. The health inspectors noticed that the commodities purchased by the crew of the news channel did not reflect on the store’s purchase database.

The health inspectors also found that the details about the food items such as date of manufacture, expiry and batch numbers were missing from the labels of some commodities, while others didn’t have labels.

According to a health inspector, a packet of Bengal Gram (Chana Dal) did not have a label containing batch number or expiry date.

When questioned, the staff said the label might have come off while handling or some customer might have removed it intentionally.

When a health inspector asked why many food items that had neared expiry date were still on the shelves, the staff said that normally a week before the expiry date, the items were cleared from the shelves.

For the past one year, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has appointed designated officers and food safety inspectors to conduct routine tests on food items in the City.

Shivaraj Hegde, designated officer, FSSAI, said that as per the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011, there were various criteria that a store had to maintain and meet.

“A trader is liable to a penalty ranging from Rs one lakh to Rs 10 lakh if the store fails to meet the standards as per the regulation. With regard to the inspection at the Big Bazaar outlet, we are yet to analyse and impose a fine,” he said.