Adulterated spices, fake paneer and other violations detected by Hyderabad-FAST in under 5 months
Seizure of over 25,300 kgs of spices in Hyderabad made people exclaim that no food products were spared of adulteration. A look at the list
Seizure of over 25,300 kgs of spices in Hyderabad made people exclaim that no food products were spared of adulteration. A look at the list of the products seized by Hyderabad-Food Adulteration Surveillance Team (H-FAST) and Hyderabad Police Commissioner’s Task Force in the past a few months would give one idea about the range of the products either adulterated or food safety violations in their preparation. Range of violations They have uncovered usage of decomposed food, preparation of adulterated ginger-garlic paste, sale of cheese analogue products as paneer, fake paneer, adulterated tea powder manufacturing, low-quality coconut powder repackaged into branded packets, use of prohibited synthetic food colours, reused cooking oil and others.
The other violations they detected includes preparation of food in unhygienic conditions, and poor sanitation at food establishments. 246 tonnes of food seized in 140 days Since its inception around 140 days ago, H-FAST along with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s (GHMC) Food Safety Team conducted 659 raids, registered 202 FIRs, and seized nearly 246 tonnes of food for various violations. Additionally, 232 cases were handed over to GHMC Food Safety officials for further action, as per a press note.
Dairy products A few of the alarming practices the two teams have across is synthetic paneer prepared without any amount of milk — urea, palm oil, harmful chemicals and other products were used. They have seized 1.5 tonnes of synthetic paneer. Besides this, 2.5 tonnes of adulterated curd, and 3.2 tonnes of cream, ghee, and oil were seized too. The officials have also inspected 16 centers where fruits were artificially ripened using hazardous chemicals. They have seized 25.8 tonnes of fruits, 9.2 tonnes of adulterated pickles, and 3.8 tonnes of adulterated tea powder.
Phone number to lodge complaint with H-FAST The recent seizure of massive quantities of spices was based on credible information passed by people. H-FAST’s phone number is 8712661212. Its handle on X is @HFastHCP.
The BriefWire