Gondia administration raids Shifa Dudh Dairy, buries thousands of kg of stale khoa and sweets

The Gondia district administration has taken a tough stand against shops and establishments that endanger public health and violate food safety rules. As part of this, the district-level milk adulteration prevention committee inspected Shifa Dudh Dairy in the Lohia Park area of Kudwa on October 13 and took action.

The inspection found large quantities of dairy products that were mouldy, foul-smelling and unfit for human consumption. Thousands of kilograms of seized stock were buried in a pit dug outside the city. Action was also taken over the use of an uncertified weighing scale and the commercial use of domestic gas cylinders.

The drive was carried out under the guidance of committee chairman and Additional District Magistrate Abhijit Ghorpade. Teams from the dairy development department, the Food and Drug Administration, the legal metrology department, the supply department and the police administration took part.

Inspectors found heavy filth in the dairy products and the place where sweets were made, including paneer, khoa, kunda, rasgulla and pedha. Black and green mould had formed on the walls of the cold storage used to keep the stock. The premises smelled foul, grain lay scattered on the floor, raw material was kept in the open and utensils were dirty.

The team also found a dead insect or fly in a box of rasgulla, which raised serious questions about hygiene. These items, which could be harmful to human health, were seized and destroyed.

No official receipt, register or related record of milk purchase or sale was found at the dairy, meaning the essential entries for milk transactions did not exist. The departments concerned are taking further legal action in the matter.

The legal metrology department found the dairy using a weighing scale that did not have a government certificate of approval. Customers must receive goods in the correct weight, but as the rule had been violated, the scale was seized. An offence has been registered under the legal metrology law and further legal action is under way.

The team also found that red domestic gas cylinders, rather than commercial ones, were being used to make sweets and dairy products at the dairy. The supply department immediately acted and seized seven domestic gas cylinders. It has also registered an offence against the person running the dairy.

The seized dairy products, running to thousands of kilograms, were taken by pickup vehicle to a secluded spot outside the city. There they were buried and destroyed in a deep pit dug with a JCB. The action took place in the presence of Additional District Magistrate Abhijit Ghorpade, with officials of the departments concerned taking part.

Present were dairy manager Prashant Borse, Assistant Commissioners Amruta Shirke and Omkar Lanjewar, Food Safety Officer Chaitanya Nanote, supply department officials Kale, Jaydeep Wagh and Abhishek Gaur, and legal metrology inspector Sanjay Kamble, along with police and traffic department officers and staff.