VIJAYAWADA: Food safety officials seized the stocks at Gokul Foods on the Kabela Road in the city after discovering during an inspection conducted on Tuesday that the confectionery factory is not adhering to quality norms.
Owned by S Purnachandra Rao, Gokul Foods manufactures a variety of sugar candies that are mostly consumed by children. The 200-litre drums of liquid glucose, the main ingredient used in the candies, was found without company labels showing the name of the manufacturer, date of manufacture or the 'best before dates'. The owner just claimed that he had brought the drums from Hyderabad.
Another violation observed by the food safety officials is the mismatch between FSSAI licence numbers on the labels. They have printed different numbers on different labels.
Assistant controller of food safety N Poornachandra Rao said that efforts are being made to ascertain the genuineness of the licence of the confectionery unit. Labels on the food products under the brand name of Gokul Foods were with a fake FSSAI licence number, he disclosed.
Poornachandra Rao observed that the liquid glucose, if adulterated, can cause intestinal disorders in children which, in turn, leads to many other health complications. He said the very process of making candies at the unit is faulty as there is a mismatch between the ingredients used by the manufacturer and those printed on the product labels. For instance, the manufacturer claimed to have been using citric acid in the making of candies but there is no trace of it either on the label or on the factory premises.
"We have seized the stocks and served notices on Gokul Foods management. The samples are being sent to the lab for a detailed analysis. Legal action would be initiated on the confectionery factory based on the lab report," said Poornachandra Rao.
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