SRINAGAR: After being accused of selling expired apple concentrate in the state assembly by a ruling PDP minister, the Department of Horticulture Friday said that its apple juice concentrate conforms to the set food safety norms.
In government handout the department spokesperson has said that the separate analytical reports received from the Food Analyst Kashmir and NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Accreditation of Laboratories) accredited AVON Food Lab Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, the samples of the apple juice concentrate lifted from JKHPMC Juice Plant at Doabgah, Sopore February last have been found conforming to the Food Safety and Standards Regulation 2011.
In January PDP legislator and Education minister Altaf Bukhari in State Assembly blamed the government for ‘selling poison’ instead of apple concentrate produced at this plant accusing that juice processed three years back is being supplied to the market,maintain that its shelf life being 18 months.
It prompted the Deputy Speaker Nazir Gurezi asked the government to present a report in the House regarding the issue.
The spokesman added that the samples were sent for testing on the directions of the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti after a legislator raised the issue in the Assembly during the Budget session 2017. He added that JKHPMC’s 10,000 MT capacity Apple Juice Concentrate Plant at Doabgah, Sopore has been upgraded and modernized with state-of-the art machinery turning it from manual mode to fully automatic.
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