Festive season: Not so sweet?

Food safety department raids chains over adulteration fears.

FSSAI has directed food commissioners of all the States and UTs to keep a strong surveillance on milk and milk products.

HIGHLIGHTS

Delhi-based sweet shops are at the radar of the food safety department

The department has received serious complaints against leading sweet chains

Earlier, the department lifted 179 milk samples & 213 milk products samples

Top sweet shops which are based in Delhi and NCR are at the radar of the food safety department. Ahead of festival celebrations, the department has received serious complaints from public against leading sweet chains delivering sub-standard sweets.

It is for the first time, the Delhi government's department of food safety has started the special drive one month prior to the festival celebration for ensuring safe and quality milk and milk products during festival time.

"So far, food safety officers have picked up 80 Khoya samples and 200 milk based products quality check. The special drive is being conducted to make sure that no adulterated milk and milk based sweets reaches to the consumer," said a senior food safety official.

In the recent past, the department lifted 179 milk samples and 213 milk products samples respectively.

"Out of 179 milk samples, we found 33 samples sub-standard and 3 samples were misbranded. Among 213 milk products, 3 were found 'unsafe' and 40 sub-standard and 7 samples were misbranded," informed the official.

Meanwhile, the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), the apex food regulator has directed food commissioners of all the States and UTs to keep a strong surveillance on milk and milk products (specially products like Khoya, paneer, dahi, ghee etc) to check their microbiological quality and presence of adulterants.

"During festivals, the usage of milk and milk based products increases. These food products have low shelf life and tend to get spoil very fast if not stored properly. Previously, there have been many incidents of dairy businesses indulging in acts of adulteration. Sweets with microbial contamination can also pose to a serious threat to the health of consumers," Pawan Agarwal , CEO of FSSAI told Mail Today.