No food business licence nixed in 2023 and 2024: Rane | Goa News

Panaji: The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) did not cancel a single licence of a food business operator in 2023 and 2024, health minister Vishwajit Rane stated in a written reply in the Goa assembly on Friday.
The FDA did not impose any fines on food business operators in 2024, he said. In 2023, the FDA imposed fines on eight food business operators amounting to Rs 1,55,000, he added.
Rane was responding to a question from MLA Aleixo Lourenco on the action taken by the FDA over the past two years against those selling food and beverage items containing carcinogenic agents; and adulterated, spurious, or expired products such as cakes, pastries, biscuits, and juices.

Lourenco also sought details on the fines imposed and the licences cancelled.
In the details of 62 such cases in 2023 and 2024 that Rane submitted, the FDA reported three cases of unsafe foods, 31 cases of misbranding of products, and 20 cases where it found substandard products being sold.
The FDA found one case of unsafe tendli pickle being sold at a bakery and general store at Porvorim in 2023. The FDA’s case before the judicial magistrate first class is in progress.
In the second case, the FDA found unsafe premium leaf tea being sold at a sweet mart and general store at Gogol. The case is under investigation.
In the third case, the FDA found unsafe premium tea being sold at a store at Dharbandora. The case is under investigation.
Several cases of misbranded daals, shev, and chakli that the FDA found had their labels rectified and the cases are under investigation.
To the question on the steps taken or being planned to strictly ensure the sale of food and beverage items that are safe, Rane said the directorate carries out surprise inspections of food business operators in both districts.
He said the teams — among other actions — inspect food business premises, surveil food businesses to weed out unlicensed operators, and test samples of vegetables, fruits, fish, and packaged commodities.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Rane said, has provided two state-of-the-art Food Safety on Wheels testing labs for carrying out analyses on the move and at local market hubs, and remote areas; and to create awareness.
“The local public can get their samples tested on the vans for nominal fees. The FDA lab has the prestigious National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories accreditation,” he said.