Fake pedha seized by the FDA at Tuljapur temple
On Oct 17, FDA teams raided three traditional sweet-making units from where eight formal samples were collected after suspected adulteration. On Oct 18, five more sweet establishments were put under the scanner and eight samples were collected. Terming it a financial fraud and a direct threat to public health, FDA invoked Section 38(4) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and destroyed the stock in public health interest. The unregistered food business operator was given a ‘Stop Business Notice’ under FSS Rules, 2011.
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An FDA official said the sweets kept for sale and storage were not made from pure milk or khoya. Karkale said that there was no legal labelling on the products, with no manufacturer name, no manufacturing date and no ingredients listed. “Furthermore, purchase bills and registration certificates were unavailable and the entire stock was being sold illegally at the outlets,” he added.
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: As several devotees thronged to seek Goddess Tulja Bhavani’s blessings at Tuljapur in Dharashiv district during Navaratra festival, they were fed sweets made not from milk derivatives but from palm oil and hydrogenated vegetable oil. Under its ‘Safe Food Safe Maharashtra’ campaign, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seized and destroyed 510kg of adulterated khoya and pedhas in a two-day blitz at Tuljapur in an action ordered by FDA commissioner Tukaram Mundhe. 236kg of khoya, 28kg of kandi pedha, 28kg of plain pedha and 13kg of kesar pedha were seized on the spot. Around 210kg of loose stock, white and brown kalakand and yellow pedha, was seized and destroyed. “The sweets were manufactured entirely from palm oil, hydrogenated vegetable oil and other non-dairy ingredients. Download the TOI App.
When our staff crumbled the pedhas, fingers turned oily and sticky, which is completely different from the texture of pure khoya,” FDA joint commissioner Shrikaant Karkale, said on Monday.