Food raids were carried out in wholesale warehouses at 4th Cross Street,5th Cross Street and Old Moor Road in Pettah

The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) on Thursday conducted special raids in Pettah, one of the many to be carried out within the Colombo Municipality to nab errant traders in food items on the run up to the New Year season, municipality sources said.

The food raids were carried out in wholesale warehouses at 4th Cross Street, 5th Cross Street and Old Moor Road in Pettah. “Around 136 wholesale warehouses dealing with rice, dried fish, dhal and other grains were inspected by health officers. Surprisingly there weren’t many severe faults found among the ones we encountered in Thursday’s raid. We found 100 kgs of dry fish and a stock of stock of rice without carrying dates of manufacture or expiry on their packages,” CMC Food Control Unit’s chief food inspector, Lal Kumara said.

He also said that many warehouses were found to be festooned with rat and insect droppings. “Also, some food items had been stored in such a way, they were unreachable. To reach them it was necessary to walk on stored food [in sacks]. We warned the shop owners to maintain clean stores,” he said.

Kumara added that the departmental officers had collected 30 samples of spices to determine whether they were contaminated. “The results of the examinations would be released in two weeks by the CMC analyst,” he said.

He also said owners of five wholesale warehouses in Old Moor Street were warned for storing animal food with food meant for human consumption. He said the traders should have possessed a licence issued by the Health Ministry to store and sell animal food, which none of them had. “We warned them not to store both foods in the same place and also to obtain a required licence to deal in animal food,” he said.

Consumers can reach the CMC Food Control Unit through phone number 0112676161 to complain or inform about violations of the law in the food trade.