Team Herald
PANJIM: Food & Drugs Administration and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane has warned that the fish transporting vehicles will be permanently banned from entering Goa if they fail to comply with the FDA directives.
His message to the fish traders comes a day after inspection teams sent back around 50 trucks from Goa’s borders within hours of government’s circular that traders not registered with the FDA will be barred from importing fish into the State.
“All fish traders entering the State of Goa will have to comply with the FDA guidelines effective from Monday midnight. Failure of which, we will consider banning fish entering Goa permanently,” he tweeted on Sunday. Around 40 trucks from Polem and 10 trucks from Patradevi were sent back in view of the recent order.
At a press conference on Saturday, Rane had stated that 82 trucks importing fish to this State for domestic consumption will have to mandatorily comply with FDA guidelines and added that he will write to Goa Police to stop non-registered fish traders on routes other than Polem and Patradevi.
The FDA had last Thursday revoked registration certificates granted to 33 fish business operators from Margao wholesale market, under Food Safety and Standards Act, for failing to get municipality’s trade licence.
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Goa Dairy milk safe to consume: FDA Minister
FDA Minister Vishwajit Rane confirmed Goa Dairy milk is safe for consumption as it has passed the necessary test at the FDA laboratory. “Today (Sunday) morning we took samples of milk from the Goa Dairy. All samples have passed the test; milk from Goa Dairy is absolutely safe for consumption. We will keep vigil and take required steps to maintain food safety in Goa,” he said. On Saturday, Rane had said that FDA will start on-field testing from Monday; however he opined there could be no adulteration in milk. “State imports around 1.5 lakh litres of milk and nobody has personally complained to me. There were some reports in the media and hence we have decided to check randomly,” he had said.
