Bengaluru family finds ‘plastic grains’ in sugar bought from grocer

BENGALURU: A senior citizen’s family in west Bengaluru was busy preparing sweets for his US-bound daughter when they realised they couldn’t even bite into the besan ladoos, let alone relish them.

The family from Upkar Layout in Ullala immediately dumped the besan ladoos in water, only to find plastic grains settling down as sediment. A closer examination revealed that the sugar they had bought from the neighbourhood grocer to prepare the sweets was in fact teeming with plastic grains. On Tuesday, prof Ashok R Patil, a neighbour of the aggrieved family, complained to the food safety commissioner and health commissioner about the suspected plastic grains found in the sugar.

The head of the family, SV Karki, had bought 5kg of sugar from Krishna Provision Store on Sunday. “My wife made besan ladoos and some other sweets for my daughter who was set to leave for the US. We used up all the sugar. While tasting the ladoos, we realised it was impossible to bite into them. When we dissolved them in water, we could see transparent crystals settling down. I complained to the shopkeeper,” said Karki.

Complaint lodged

Prof Patil, chair professor of consumer law and practice, National Law School of India University, learnt about the matter and lodged the complaint — TOI has a copy — alleging that the sugar was adulterated with plastic grains.

“We informed the food safety officer to take action against the manufacturers and sellers involved. We have kept a sample of the sweet for lab test. The matter needs to be investigated further,” said Patil. With the family having used all the sugar purchased from the store, there’s no way to verify the extent of adulteration.

Maneesh Singh, proprietor of Krishna Provision Store, said he did not receive a complaint from any other customer. “I buy a gunny bag of 50kg of sugar from the wholesale market,” he said.

However, Patil claimed the shopkeeper had admitted to some problem in the sugar when Karki questioned him.

Dr Harshavardhan B, joint commissioner, Food Safety & Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), Karnataka, said he has received a complaint and his officers would inspect the store.

‘Will test sample’

“If it is settling at the bottom of the vessel, it might not be plastic grains. They would float. We have received over 90 samples of rice and sugar in the past one month and in none of the cases was the presence of plastic grains proven. Testing samples for the presence of plastic grains costs Rs 6,000. The complainant has sent us an email. We will collect the sample and test it further,” he said, adding that it could be a case of adulteration.