FDA seizes oil and ghee worth over Rs 25 lakh in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, suspends licence

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raided two places in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Saturday on suspicion of poor quality and adulteration in food items. According to the administration, stock worth Rs 25,07,190 was taken into custody in the two actions.

The first action was at Ravi Oil Industries in Lasur Station in Gangapur taluka. Some 2,710 kg of refined soybean oil, valued at Rs 4.87 lakh, was seized. The administration has suspended the unit's food business licence with immediate effect.

Food Safety Officer Pragya Surase carried out the surprise inspection of Ravi Oil Industries. On food safety parameters, the unit scored only 30 out of 86, or 35 per cent. The inspection also found that the licence lists the type of business as "general manufacturing", while the unit was actually operating only as a "repacker". The administration noted a discrepancy in the nature of the business.

The second action was at the warehouse of Messrs Divya Mahavitarak, near Cambridge School in the Sundarwadi area of the city. It is a super distributor of Patanjali Ayurved. The administration said the establishment is in the name of Vijay Kaduba Jadhav. Adulteration is suspected in two batches of Patanjali cow ghee kept there for sale.

In all, 2,280 litres of cow ghee, valued at Rs 20,20,190, was seized from the warehouse. Food safety officers found 2,998 units of batch NCDF 260170 of the product "Cow Ghee 01", amounting to 1,349.1 litres of ghee, valued at Rs 12,29,180. They also found 1,034 units of batch NCDG 260115 of "Cow Ghee 02", amounting to 930.6 litres.

The administration said the stock has been seized and kept in safe custody under the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Samples of the ghee will be sent to a laboratory for testing. The quality of the product will become clear once the laboratory report arrives, and further legal action will be taken accordingly.