Manufacturers of contaminated ice-cream and spices will be given closure orders this month under the Municipal laws without prior notices. “The number of contaminated spices on sale has trebled recently,” Dr. Preadeep Kariyawasam, medical officer Colombo said.
Due to the price increases of herbs and spices such as cinnamon, cardamoms and cloves as well as safe food dyes, unscrupulous manufacturers are resorting to using toxic dyes and diluting their products with harmful additives and substitutes leading to cancer and other diseases. Health Minister Maithrapala Sirisena recently cautioned the public to refrain from eating a brand of rice called Rosa kekulu which he said had been coloured with a harmful red dye which changed the colour of the water to red when washed. “There’s no such thing as rosa kekulu. Don’t eat it”, he warned.
Dr. Kariyawasam said there was a similar rise in contaminated ice cream products in the city. “Over 40% of ice cream in the city is unfit for eating”, he said. “We have warned the manufacturers repeatedly to give us samples of their products to be tested at the City Microbiological lab. Except for one leading company, the rest have failed to comply. So we have no alternative but to check samples from retail outlets. If they are contaminated, we will file action against the retail shop owners and the manufacturers as well”, he told The Nation. “We will also publicise their trade marks in the media to discourage public from buying such food items.”, he added.
He also requested the public to call the CMC hotline 2676161 to make any complaints against contaminated spice or ice cream product to carry out independent inquiries. “They can bring such product to us for testing in our lab too”, he said.
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