PUNE: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has seized adulterated sweets and its ingredients worth Rs 17.40 lakh and drawn over 373 samples for tests in the last 14 days.
Be it excess use of edible colours or cleverly substituting pistachio with coloured groundnut flakes, adulteration in sweets is rampant in Pune's market ahead of the festive season.
"Three samples of sweets had food colour beyond permissible limits. As per the food safety norms, colours up to 100 parts per million i.e. PPM, a way of expressing very dilute concentrations of substances, are allowed in food articles. However, three samples sent to the state public health laboratory were found to contain colours up to 500 ppm which can be very harmful to health," said Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (food), FDA, Pune.
The FDA also found groundnut flakes coloured in green and used as pistachio in 'Sohan-papadi' at a shop in Pimpri. "The enormous demand for sweets ahead of Diwali drives people to look for ways to resort to such such indigenous method in lure of quick money. We have intensified surveillance across Pune," said Kekare.
Besan (gram flour), used extensively to make laddoos, are also mixed with kesari or Laakhi daal which can be injurious to health. "We found samples of besan containing this daal which was brought from Madhya Pradesh. We have seized besan worth Rs 82,000 and maida worth Rs 2.17 lakh in the last few days," Kekare said.
FDA officials are conducting random inspections and on-the-spot tests to check quality of milk and milk products such as khoya, besides rawa, maida and other flours.
They also found that some units were reusing old tins for packaging edible oil which is not allowed under the new Food Safety and Standards Act.
"At some places we found unit owners had purchased oil in bulk and packaged it locally. The tin containers used for packaging the oil were old and recycled. Stock worth Rs 7.31 lakh were seized. Besides, hydrogenated vegetable oil worth Rs 38,200 was also seized," said Dilip Sangat, assistant commissioner (food), FDA.
Besides, the officials also found that some sweet shop owners were using sorbic acid in excessive amount and selling such sweets as 'special burfi'. "Sorbic acid up to 1000ppm is allowed, but some shop keepers had raised the limit to 6,700 ppm," Sangat said.
Adulteration causes serious risk to health. Presence of harmful starch, urea-mixed milk, caustic soda, 'ararot', artificial sweetening chemicals, non-approved colored sweets (such as heavy metals incorporated malachite green, etc) and unhygienic conditions lead to acute gastritis, serious diarrhoea, dysentery, dehydration, kidney inflammation, etc.
Detect adulterants in your food
* Tea: Wet a white blotting paper with water and sprinkle tea powder on it. The appearance of yellow, red or orange spots indicates use of artificial colours
* Hing (asafoetida): In its pure form, 'hing' would dissolve and form a milky white solution in water. It burns with a flame
* Saffron: Genuine saffron, unlike artificial one, will not break easily. Artificial saffron is prepared by soaking maize cob in sugar solution and colouring with coal-tar dye. The colour will dissolve in water. Pure saffron completely dissolves in water while maize cob will not
* Ghee or butter: Adulteration with vanaspati can be detected by adding sugar and hydrochloric acid. Upon mixing, a red colour will appear
* Edible oil: If adulterated with argemone oil, it will give a red colour when treated with nitric acid
* 'Pithi' sugar spiked with washing soda: Add a few drops of hydrochloric acid, effervescence will indicate the presence of washing soda
* Honey spiked with sugar solution: A cotton wick dipped in pure honey, when lighted with a match stick, burns and show the purity of honey. If adulterated, the presence of water will not allow honey to burn. If it does, it will produce a cracking sound
* Silver foil: Aluminium foil is whitish gray in colour and is readily soluble in concentrated hydrochloric acid while pure silver foil is not
Be it excess use of edible colours or cleverly substituting pistachio with coloured groundnut flakes, adulteration in sweets is rampant in Pune's market ahead of the festive season.
"Three samples of sweets had food colour beyond permissible limits. As per the food safety norms, colours up to 100 parts per million i.e. PPM, a way of expressing very dilute concentrations of substances, are allowed in food articles. However, three samples sent to the state public health laboratory were found to contain colours up to 500 ppm which can be very harmful to health," said Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (food), FDA, Pune.
The FDA also found groundnut flakes coloured in green and used as pistachio in 'Sohan-papadi' at a shop in Pimpri. "The enormous demand for sweets ahead of Diwali drives people to look for ways to resort to such such indigenous method in lure of quick money. We have intensified surveillance across Pune," said Kekare.
Besan (gram flour), used extensively to make laddoos, are also mixed with kesari or Laakhi daal which can be injurious to health. "We found samples of besan containing this daal which was brought from Madhya Pradesh. We have seized besan worth Rs 82,000 and maida worth Rs 2.17 lakh in the last few days," Kekare said.
FDA officials are conducting random inspections and on-the-spot tests to check quality of milk and milk products such as khoya, besides rawa, maida and other flours.
They also found that some units were reusing old tins for packaging edible oil which is not allowed under the new Food Safety and Standards Act.
"At some places we found unit owners had purchased oil in bulk and packaged it locally. The tin containers used for packaging the oil were old and recycled. Stock worth Rs 7.31 lakh were seized. Besides, hydrogenated vegetable oil worth Rs 38,200 was also seized," said Dilip Sangat, assistant commissioner (food), FDA.
Besides, the officials also found that some sweet shop owners were using sorbic acid in excessive amount and selling such sweets as 'special burfi'. "Sorbic acid up to 1000ppm is allowed, but some shop keepers had raised the limit to 6,700 ppm," Sangat said.
Adulteration causes serious risk to health. Presence of harmful starch, urea-mixed milk, caustic soda, 'ararot', artificial sweetening chemicals, non-approved colored sweets (such as heavy metals incorporated malachite green, etc) and unhygienic conditions lead to acute gastritis, serious diarrhoea, dysentery, dehydration, kidney inflammation, etc.
Detect adulterants in your food
* Tea: Wet a white blotting paper with water and sprinkle tea powder on it. The appearance of yellow, red or orange spots indicates use of artificial colours
* Hing (asafoetida): In its pure form, 'hing' would dissolve and form a milky white solution in water. It burns with a flame
* Saffron: Genuine saffron, unlike artificial one, will not break easily. Artificial saffron is prepared by soaking maize cob in sugar solution and colouring with coal-tar dye. The colour will dissolve in water. Pure saffron completely dissolves in water while maize cob will not
* Ghee or butter: Adulteration with vanaspati can be detected by adding sugar and hydrochloric acid. Upon mixing, a red colour will appear
* Edible oil: If adulterated with argemone oil, it will give a red colour when treated with nitric acid
* 'Pithi' sugar spiked with washing soda: Add a few drops of hydrochloric acid, effervescence will indicate the presence of washing soda
* Honey spiked with sugar solution: A cotton wick dipped in pure honey, when lighted with a match stick, burns and show the purity of honey. If adulterated, the presence of water will not allow honey to burn. If it does, it will produce a cracking sound
* Silver foil: Aluminium foil is whitish gray in colour and is readily soluble in concentrated hydrochloric acid while pure silver foil is not
No comments:
Post a Comment