November 11, 2012 / 10:13 IST
With just two days to go before Diwali, a crackdown on spurious sweets has begun across the country. But the fear of adulteration hasn't hampered business. Fifteen quintal spurious mawa seized in Moradabad, 20 quintal adulterated sweets recovered in Jaipur and sweets worth Rs 12 lakh found in Thane. With the sale of thousands of kilograms of sweets, adulteration too is on the rise in this particular season every year.
Food Health Inspector Vinod Sharma, Jaipur, said, "The mawa is being prepared without any milk at all. It's made of vegetable oil and semolina. We have to get it destroyed."In Mumbai, ahead of Diwali, Maharashtra FDA has seized 5274 kilograms of adulterated mawa worth Rs 10 lakhs. The FDA's drive started 20 days ago but it has intensified in the last week. Like every year, max adulterated mawa in Mumbai has come from Gujarat.In Delhi, so far only 234 samples of food items have been tested by the PFA (Prevention of Food Adultration department). Out of which seven samples were found unfit to eat. Two were found of substandard quality.According to the new food safety and standards act the punishment for selling adulterated food is seven years imprisonment and Rs 10 lakh fine, for selling sub-standard food you could face a maximum fine of Rs 10 lakh. And a death by eating adulterated food could land the offender seven years to life imprisonment for offender.But that has hardly been a deterrent. Adulteration is big business during the festive season. A kilogram of milkcake that one buys for say Rs 250 can be prepared for just Rs 55 using adulterated ingredients. There have been instances when milk has been mixed with white paint, rotten wheat, toilet paper crushed and mixed with khoa and ghee adulterated with animal fat. So this Diwali be careful, you could be taking in a deadly mix. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
