600 Kg Chilli Powder, 100 Kg Salt And 100 Kg Black Gram Seized

Food and Safety officials inspect chilli powder bags that were discarded by unknown persons in Guntur on Saturday.

600 Kg Chilli Powder, 100 Kg Salt And 100 Kg Black Gram Seized

Food safety officials along with Commissioner’s Task Force (CTF) and Bhavanipuram police raided an adulterated chilli manufacturing unit in Bhavanipuram and seized poor quality chilli powder prepared with chilli waste and sawdust. The proprietor was taken into police custody and criminal cases were registered against him.

The officials seized 600 kg chilli powder, 100 kg salt and 100 kg black gram.According to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) officials, proprietor K Narayana Rao was selling adulterated chilli powder under the name Sudha Enterprises, in a rented house on St. Atkinson High School Road in Bhavanipuram, for the past few months.

Acting on a tip-off, assistant food controller N Purnachandra Rao led the raids and said that labels with brand names Krishna, Mango, Surya and a few others were found at the unauthorised manufacturing unit. They are misbranded and do not have permission, he said.

During the raids, food safety officials observed that the accused was mixing the powder derived after crushing the stems of chilli in a greater proportion than the permissible limits.

Food Safety Concerns

“Chilli powder usually is made by grinding chilli and mixing it with certain ingredients. Instead, Narayana was found using cheap quality chilli and chilli stems, procured from Guntur, and was selling them under various brand names. He had not obtained FSSAI licence to sell the products in the market,” said Purnachandra Rao.

Officials collected samples of chilli powder and sent them to the food analyst. Narayana Rao was also found preparing and selling adulterated coriander powder and curry leaves powder and supplying them to nearby hotels and eateries.