Gurgaon: Beware of adulteration while indulging your sweet tooth

Adulteration is rampant during Diwali and traders try to up their profits by using substandard goods that may be harmful to the public.

Two days ahead of Diwali, the food adulteration squad held several surprise inspections at shops which were suspected to be using adulterated khoya, paneer and milk products to make Diwali sweets.

Chief Minister’s flying squad along with the Gurgaon food safety department carried out inspections at sweet shops in Khandsa Mandi on Monday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Adulteration is rampant during Diwali and traders try to up their profits by using substandard goods that may be harmful to the public. The drive is being conducted at all popular food joints and sweet shops that record a heavy footfall during the festive season. Desi ghee, paneer, khoya and other milk -based products are under the scanner, officials said.

The chief minister’s flying squad, along with the Gurgaon food safety department, on Sunday inspected many sweet shops and collected samples for testing.

“This drive was conducted owing to the fact that sweets are often found to be adulterated and containing harmful chemicals during the festive season,” the spokesperson said.

A total of 75 shops were searched by the team in Ambala and in Gurgaon.

He said, “Traders are in the habit of adulterating sweet items by using chemicals to increase productivity and also make them more attractive to buyers. Tis happens mostly during Diwali due to a sharp rise in the demand of sweets.We penalise such traders every year and seal shops.”

The team destroyed a total of 50kg paneer and 50kg khoya from a shop at Khandsa after they were found be of bad quality.

A few shop owners fled the spot when the team came inspecting and, suspecting foul play, the team collected samples of more than 1,200kg paneer and 265kg khoya for testing. The results will be revealed after 15 days.

The food safety department will conduct more searches in different areas of the city to check the quality of the sweets and food items.