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Jaipur firm bought Amul items near expiry, tweaked dates to sell, 1.5 lakh kg destroyed: ‘Learnt method on YouTube’
The operation followed a complaint made via the state government’s 181 helpline regarding suspicious activities, officials said.
The Food Safety Department of Rajasthan has destroyed approximately 1.5 lakh kilograms of expired food products following a major crackdown on a local distribution firm that had bought the Amul-branded items just before the sell-by date and was selling them by altering the words on the packaging, reports said on Tuesday.
The operation followed a complaint made via the state government’s 181 helpline regarding suspicious activities at M/s Athlete Distributor, located in the Kho Nagorian area, The Times of India reported. Principal secretary, health, Gayatri Rathore was quoted as saying that the complaint was received on the department’s helpline.
A team led by the Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO), Jaipur-II, raided the warehouse and recovered nearly 12,000 cartons of expired items, including noodles, ketchup, mayonnaise, and energy drinks. "The warehouse was operating under suspicious conditions, with neighbours reporting that once 10 to 12 workers entered, the main gate remained shut all day,” food safety commissioner T Shubhmangala reportedly said.
Investigators also found bottles of thinner, acetone, and other chemicals used to strip printed dates from approximately 3,000 cartons, reported The Indian Expre. Authorities also found 4,500 new Amul-branded cartons intended for repackaging the expired stock.
Additional commissioner Bhagwat Singh alleged that the firm’s operator, Gagan Ahuja, “admitted” that learnt the method of altering expiry dates to sell outdated products from videos on YouTube.
The expired products were destroyed over a four-day period. It required 27 trucks to transport the goods to a dumping yard at the distributor's expense.
It was still being investigated how many, if any, such items were in the market.
The items were manufactured by the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union in Gujarat and supplied by Advansis India Private Limited. Representatives from these companies confirmed the expiry dates had been erased and noted that Ahuja usually purchased near-expiry goods at heavily discounted rates, the TOI report said.
Amul had not yet reacted to the news reports.
The warehouse has been sealed, and the firm has been barred from food-related business, officials said. They also found that the firm’s food licence had already expired.
