On Tuesday, FDA officials had raided slums in Pathanwadi area of Malad (East) and stumbled upon milk pouches of reputed brands being tampered with. One accused, Pandu Vitya, was arrested. An FIR has been lodged.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Maharashtra has come down heavily on the milk adulteration racket in the state, including Mumbai. In a massive crackdown, up to 935 litres of milk were seized in the city alone from two milk adulteration dens in the western suburbs. Also, FDA officials intercepted a milk truck in Goregaon (East), seizing allegedly adulterated milk samples.
On Tuesday, FDA officials had raided slums in Pathanwadi area of Malad (East) and stumbled upon milk pouches of reputed brands being tampered with. One accused, Pandu Vitya, was arrested. An FIR has been lodged.
"The accused was cutting open packets, removing the milk, adding water and resealing them," said Suresh Annapure, joint commissioner (Food), FDA. The accused was operating from a 10×10 sqft shanty. When FDA officials swooped down on his den, they stumbled upon his family members helping him. Up to 197 litres worth Rs7,486 were seized from the accused's shanty.
Officials said most adulteration dens are operated in remote slum areas which are hard to reach. The modus operandi includes accused purchasing milk from distributors, adulterating it and then supplying it to households.
In another instance of a parallel raid in Jeetnagar on Versova Link Road, milk packets of Amul, Gokul, Mahananda and Govardhan were found to be tampered with, said FDA officials.
Similar action was carried out in the districts of Thane, Solapur, Sangli and Satara, where over 30 samples of cow and buffalo milk being sold in pouches and cartons, and even loose milk from canisters, were collected from dairy farms, milk stalls, cooperative dealers and distributors, and sent for testing.
"We will test the samples for adulteration through additives, chemicals or water," said Annapure. The results are expected in under two weeks.
Also, in a dairy in Sangli, up to 1,879 kg cream worth Rs2,63,060, which was stored in unhygienic conditions, has been seized and destroyed.
Up to 16 teams of four to five food inspectors were formed across Maharashtra, including three teams in Mumbai, to bust the racket. The teams kept a watch on adulterators for up to eight days in a bid to track down their movements, before swooping down on them.
FDA officials have appealed to the citizens to purchase milk only from those vendors who are either registered or obtained a licence for operation from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.
"We are continuing action against milk adulteration on a routine basis consistently," said Harshadeep Kamble, state FDA commissioner.
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