AURANGABAD: Out of 61 food samples procured to assess quality by officials of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Aurangabad, two have been found to be of substandard quality.
FDA officials had collected these samples of various types of sweets and other ingredients from Aurangabad district for a special quality check drive during Diwali.
Chandrashekhar Salunke, FDA joint commissioner, Food, Aurangabad division, told TOI that the drive against food adulteration was launched in October. Samples were collected till November 3. A total of 61 samples of sweets and milk products such as khoya and ingredients used in making sweets, such as rawa and maida, were sent to the FDA's Mumbai laboratory for tests. Of the 61 samples sent for the tests, the Aurangabad FDA authorities have received reports of 20, of which two have been found to be substandard. The reports of 41 samples are still awaited.
Food safety inspector Varsha Rode said that out of the 61 samples collected, 27 were samples of mithai and farsan, five of khoya, three of mithai made with silver foil, five of chocolates, 18 oil samples and three besan, rawa and maida samples.
"Out of the 20 reports of the samples, 18 were found to be of standard quality. Two oil samples were found to be substandard," Rode said. She said that edible oil worth Rs 11.5lakh has been seized on the suspicion of being adulterated over the festive period.
The FDA joint commissioner said that food safety officers look into the colour used in sweets. "Permitted colours are used in items like biscuits, ice-cream and some sweets. Though not injurious to health, these can only be used to a certain allowed limit," Salunke said, pointing out that the use of non-permitted colours is considered as food adulteration.
Speaking about the use of mawa or khoya, which is basically dried milk used for making a lot of mithai, Salunke said that if the fat content in mawa is not as per the prescribed, standard limit -- if it is too high or too low -- such mawa cannot be allowed to be used in sweets. "As per the standard, mawa needs to have a minimum of 30 per cent milk fats. It is difficult to just recognise pure mawa. It can be adulterated using sugar and even substances like starch. This is why the registration or licensing of mawa shops has been made mandatory," Salunke said.
FDA officials had collected these samples of various types of sweets and other ingredients from Aurangabad district for a special quality check drive during Diwali.
Chandrashekhar Salunke, FDA joint commissioner, Food, Aurangabad division, told TOI that the drive against food adulteration was launched in October. Samples were collected till November 3. A total of 61 samples of sweets and milk products such as khoya and ingredients used in making sweets, such as rawa and maida, were sent to the FDA's Mumbai laboratory for tests. Of the 61 samples sent for the tests, the Aurangabad FDA authorities have received reports of 20, of which two have been found to be substandard. The reports of 41 samples are still awaited.
Food safety inspector Varsha Rode said that out of the 61 samples collected, 27 were samples of mithai and farsan, five of khoya, three of mithai made with silver foil, five of chocolates, 18 oil samples and three besan, rawa and maida samples.
"Out of the 20 reports of the samples, 18 were found to be of standard quality. Two oil samples were found to be substandard," Rode said. She said that edible oil worth Rs 11.5lakh has been seized on the suspicion of being adulterated over the festive period.
The FDA joint commissioner said that food safety officers look into the colour used in sweets. "Permitted colours are used in items like biscuits, ice-cream and some sweets. Though not injurious to health, these can only be used to a certain allowed limit," Salunke said, pointing out that the use of non-permitted colours is considered as food adulteration.
Speaking about the use of mawa or khoya, which is basically dried milk used for making a lot of mithai, Salunke said that if the fat content in mawa is not as per the prescribed, standard limit -- if it is too high or too low -- such mawa cannot be allowed to be used in sweets. "As per the standard, mawa needs to have a minimum of 30 per cent milk fats. It is difficult to just recognise pure mawa. It can be adulterated using sugar and even substances like starch. This is why the registration or licensing of mawa shops has been made mandatory," Salunke said.
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