Excelsior Correspondent
LEH Aug, 8: A team from district administration raided a cold storage in Industrial area Skalzangling and seized 104 quintals of putrid chicken worth lakh of rupees.
The team was comprising of district police led by HQ Dy SP Peer Zahoor, SHO Tsewang Dorjay, Chief Animal Husbandry Officer, Dr.Mohd Iqbal, District Health Officer (DHO) Dr.Tashi Namgyal, Food Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Department (FCS&CAD) team and Councillor Lower Leh, P. Wangdan Shunu.
The unpacked putrid chicken worth Rs twenty four lakh was recovered from a cold storage M/s Ladakh Enterprise at Industrial Area Skalzangling emitting foul smell had no brand or date of packaging label.
Later the seized 104 quintal putrid chilled chicken was destroyed in presence of a Magistrate Tehsildar and representative from chicken dealers, Food Safety Officer, veterinary doctors and Police officers.
Leh Councilor P. Wangdan Shunu said that administration have been conducting raid even during Winter and issued challan to number of defaulters but now public should be alert to check such defaulters. He added that cold storage had violated all rules by subletting the store to someone and Council will make sure check illegal possession of such stores in future.
He said that it is concerned with the public health thus he requested the team to keep regular checking for such defaulters so that they don’t dare to play with the safety of public health.
Responding to media query Chief Animal Husbandry Officer Dr.Mohd Iqbal said that in the normal freezer +4 degree temperature should be maintained but incase of cold storage storing meat and chicken should maintain constant temperature of -18 degree Celsius and there should be two power back up to supply uninterrupted supply. Also there should be enough spacing maintained between the items in the cold storage for proper air circulation. He said that lack of proper spacing in the cold storage and power failure resulted in spoiling the chicken. He added that most dangerous period for bacterial growth on chicken is during Thawing (defrost) and then again made to freeze has the highest chances of bacterial growth and chicken has highest bacterial growth rate as compare to red meat. He added that consuming such chicken would cause severe food poison to human beings.
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