Vigilance and Enforcement, food safety departments seize 500 kg spurious tea powder

After receiving complaints about the poor quality tea powder being sold at shop number 283 of the wholesale market, a team of officials inspected the shop’s stock.

VIJAYAWADA: Sleuths of Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) carried out joint raids on grocery shops at Gollapudi Wholesale market at Gollapudi village near Vijayawada on Tuesday and found some traders resorting to adulteration.

After receiving complaints about the poor quality tea powder being sold at shop number 283 of the wholesale market, a team of officials inspected the shop’s stock and found that the trader was adulterating tea powder and selling it at a higher price than normal.

Regional Vigilance and Enforcement officer (RVEO), V Harshavardan, also inspected the shop along with the officials and said the accused trader was mixing harmful dyes and artificial colours to give the tea powder ‘a rich look’ before selling it to customers. Officials seized 500 kg of tea powder from his shop and sent a sample of it to a laboratory.

“The accused trader was adulterating the tea powder by adding artificial colour to it to make it look fresh.We also found something wrong with the packing,” he said.

The officials said that the licence of the trader was cancelled. “It is learnt that the accused trader is also supplying adulterated tea powder to tea stalls and to other mandals. If proved guilty, he will be awarded ten years in jail and a fine of `10 lakh will be imposed on him.”