Malad police to send teams to four units to probe the source of ice cream

Malad police to investigate which manufacturing unit shipped contaminated ice cream with human finger. Yummo Ice Cream under scrutiny. Police checking CCTV footage.

Mumbai: The Malad police on Monday will send its teams to the four manufacturing units of the ‘Yummo’ Ice Cream firm in Pune, Ghaziabad (UP), Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Delhi to find out as to which of them had made and shipped the contaminated butterscotch ice cream cone, from which a Mumbai-based doctor had allegedly found a piece of a human finger.

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According to Ravi Adane, senior inspector of Malad police station said that since there were four ice creams delivered to the complainant’s house, it is difficult to say from which manufacturing unit was the particular butterscotch cone made and sent to the godown of the online delivery app in Bhiwandi.

The police said they are also investigating if someone could have planted the human finger in the ice cream at the godown. “We are also checking if mischief is a possibility. We have called for the CCTV recordings of the Bhiwandi godown to verify the drop and pickup of the contaminated ice cream,” said an officer from the Malad police station.

The police have recorded the statements of the complainant and the online delivery app staff. The police are expecting to get the forensic report in a week which will tell them whether the piece of flesh was human or animal.

Three days ago, the Malad police booked the authorities of Yummo ice cream after a 26-year-old doctor found a piece of the human little finger jutting out of this butterscotch cone.

According to the Malad police, the complainant identified as Brandon Ferrao, an MBBS doctor, and a resident of the Orlem Church area in Malad West had ordered for three ice creams through an online app when his sister came to visit him. Ferrao said that the order arrived at 10.10am. In his statement, Ferrao said that as soon as he took a bite of his butterscotch cone and felt something. He was shocked to see a piece of a finger jutting out of the cone. He spit the ice cream and sent a message and photo on the Instagram page of the company.

Ferrao said that the customer care executives of the company called him and said that they had initiated a detailed investigation into the matter however till evening when Ferrao did not get any response from the company, he approached the Malad police and registered a case.

“The piece of someone’s finger was in my mouth, It was appalling,” said Ferro.

Based on the statement of the complaint the police have booked Yemmo company under sections 272 (adulteration of food article), 273 (for selling food or drink which has become noxious) and 336 (rash and dangerous act endangering human life) of the Indian Penal Code.

Meanwhile, a Yummo spokesperson said, “We have stopped manufacturing at this third-party manufacturing facility. We have isolated the said product at the facility, and our warehouses and are in the process of doing the same at the market level. We are a law-abiding company and shall fully cooperate and support the authorities to investigate the matter thoroughly.”