Tamil Nadu

Mind the quality of PDS rice: Velu

E.V. Velu

CHENNAI: Food Minister E.V. Velu has warned of severe action against quality control employees of the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation if they are found responsible for poor quality of rice supplied through the public distribution system.

Inaugurating a seminar on quality control measures, organised by the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation here on Monday, he stressed the need for supplying quality rice and other commodities through the PDS. People were conscious of quality, and they were not ready to buy products of inferior quality.

The Corporation employees should strive to improve the quality and conduct periodic checks of paddy stored in godowns to prevent pest attack. They should be careful while procuring paddy, as rice ground out of paddy with high moisture content would be poor.

As the shelf life of wheat products was short, they should not be stored for long, and should be distributed as and when they were received. As the quality control employees were the public face of the Corporation, he said, they should ensure that only quality materials were distributed.

Food Secretary K. Shanmugham said the seminar was meant to create quality awareness.

In paddy, quality should be maintained at every stage, from procurement to handling, storage, hulling and distribution.

According to public assessment, the quality of PDS rice was not satisfactory, but it was fair quality rice, as per the Food Corporation of India’s standard. He wanted the employees to adopt a proper system of storage and undertake periodic fumigation.

Commissioner of Civil Supplies K. Rajaraman said consumers’ expectations were rising day by day, as their living standard had improved.

The basic quality norms should be increased to meet their expectations.

Managing Director of the Corporation S. Sahoo said paddy went through several layers of processing before it reached the PDS as rice. Each layer was important, as any lapse in quality control in any one layer would lead to poor quality of rice.

Quality experts from various Central institutions explained the measures to be taken to maintain the quality of grains.

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