Quality control inspectors to keep vigil on flour mills

It may be mentioned that during the Question Answer session in the Assembly on Friday, Left Front MLA Jahanara Khan showed a packet containing 750 gm atta and raised questions on its quality, as it looked reddish in colour.

Jyotipriya Mallick, the state Food and Supplies minister, said the quality of the atta will be tested. "But I would like to state that steps have been taken so that vitamin and other minerals in the atta can be retained. When suji and flour are extracted, the atta loses all its main ingredients," he said.

In the same breath, he maintained that there were 89 flour mills in the state since the Left Front period. Twenty mills had to discontinue, as they failed to clear the required criteria while passing through an e-tendering process, after the change of the guard in the state. Later, some more have been included and at present, there are 111 flour mills which produce atta to be sold in 750 gm packets in fair-price shops.

A decision has also been taken to improve the quality of the packet from 40 micron to 50 micron. Moreover, the floors of the flour mills have to be of white marble and the employees need to put on white gloves, dress and boots while working. The mills will be under CCTV surveillance and the quality control inspectors will be looking after the maintenance of the new set of norms.

It may be mentioned that the state government has set up laboratories in headquarters of every district where samples of rice, pulses, atta, oil, etc. can be tested. There are two major testing units in Kolkata and North Bengal. The state Food and Supplies department is going to procure machinery worth around Rs 27 crore from Germany, which will be set up in the Kolkata testing unit.