Adulterated sweets, wrongly labelled items caught by FDA during festive season

To intercept the adulterated food even before they reach the local markets, FDA officials kept a vigil at railway stations and bus stops where the adulterated food movement was anticipated from.

Payal Gwalani

The joint commissioner (food) said that consumers also need to be more aware, especially during the festive season. (Image for representation)

Payal.gwalani@hindustantimes.com

Mumbai: In a special drive run to prevent adulterated food to reach consumers, the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has caught several samples of food items required in making sweets. They also caught many wrongly labelled items during this drive.

Starting on August 1, just ahead of the Ganpati festival, the drive will continue till the end of December. It will be intensified this month to prevent the large-scale sale of adulterated sweets during Diwali. The entire batches of the foods found adulterated were destroyed and FIRs were lodged against manufacturers in some cases.

“We found a lot of adulterated mawa coming into the city from neighbouring states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh,” said Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (food). “In other cases, vegetable oil was mixed with ghee to bring down its price and palm oil with higher quality oils like groundnut and sunflower.”

He added that some local farsan (salty snacks) and sweet manufacturers who did not comply with the orders of mentioning a clear best-before date on the packaging were also taken to task.

Kekare said that though it was not a crime to mix different kinds of oils, the manufacturer needed to mention the ingredients as well as the proportion they are used in on the package.

“In many cases, the selling prices remain that of the higher priced oil even though a lesser quality oil is mixed in. This amounts to cheating the consumer,” he added.

Kekare said consumers also need to be more aware, especially during the festive season.