Maharashtra FDA seizes food worth Rs 25.53 lakh from 14 establishments in statewide checks

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) carried out inspections across the state on October 25 and 26, seizing food worth Rs 25.53 lakh from 14 food business establishments. Officials shared the details on Tuesday.

The inspections covered the Greater Mumbai, Konkan, Pune, Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nagpur and Amravati divisions. Officials seized about 9,385 kg of food items, 7,566 packets of expired food, 7,104 bottles of carbonated drinks and 88 litres of milk.

The seized items include mawa, sweets, namkeen, sev, chivda, chips, dry fruits, soya chunks, wheat flour and dried coconut powder.

FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe warned that strict action would be taken against shopkeepers found selling substandard, unsafe or adulterated food. He said no laxity in enforcing food safety would be tolerated. The FDA advised the public to buy food only from licensed or registered shops, to avoid loose or unlabelled items and to check the manufacturing details.

In Mumbai and Konkan, Ananta Food Products (Bhandup West), Curated Foods (Goregaon East) and Cloudstore Retail Pvt Ltd (Padgha-Bhiwandi) were inspected. In Pune and Nashik, Prathamesh Products and Mahila Griha Udyog (Pune) and Sachin Industries (Dhule) came under inspection.

In the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division, Bikaner Mithaiwala (Waluj), Varadvinayak Enterprises (Nanded), Pabale Namkeen (Beed), Sahyadri Foods (Jalna), Zum Zum Industries (Beed) and Korde Foods (Latur) were inspected. In Nagpur and Amravati, Giridhari Trading (Nagpur), Rajhans Dudh Agency (Amravati) and KL Food Industry (Amravati) were inspected.

According to officials, the inspections found several irregularities. Food was being sold without proper labels in some places, there was filth in preparation and packing at others, some products were seized on suspicion of being substandard or adulterated, and many establishments had no valid licence. In one case, the shopkeeper could not produce a record of destroying expired stock.

By value, the largest seizure was at Curated Foods, where 690 kg of dry fruits and roasted almonds, valued at Rs 6.79 lakh, were seized. The second largest was at Cloudstore Retail, where 7,566 packets of expired food worth Rs 6.88 lakh were found.

The total value of the seized goods is Rs 25,53,758. This includes about 9,385 kg of food items, 7,566 packets of expired packaged food, 88 litres of milk and 7,104 bottles of carbonated drinks. Action was taken against 14 establishments in all.