Substandard quality betel nuts worth Rs 8.56 cr seized
13 Dec 2019 10:16:44
Staff Reporter :
Food Safety Officers (FSOs) of Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) Nagpur division on Wednesday seized a stock of alleged substandard and artificially coloured betel nuts worth Rs 8.56 crore from four different stock points in city. A special drive was conducted by the team of FSOs under the guidance of Joint Commissioner (Food) Chandrakant Pawar in Maskasath, Itwari, Octroi Free Zone in Wardhaman Nagar. The team raided M/s Jain Supari Centre; M/s Jain Brothers; M/s Sumit Trading Company and M/s Surana Supari Centre situated in these areas.
The FSOs conducted in-depth inspections of the godowns of these traders and suspecting the sub-standard and betel nuts with artificial colours. The team collected 23 samples of the betel nuts and sent them for analysis to Food Testing Laboratory. The team of FSOs raided the premises and godowns of M/s Jain Supari Centre, Maskasath, Itwari and its godown in Octroi free zone in Wardhaman Nagar; M/s Jain Brothers, Maskasath, Itwari and its godown in Octroi free zone in Wardhaman Nagar; M/s Sumit Trading Company, Maskasath, Itwari and its five godowns in Satranjipura and other places; M/s Surana Supari Centre, Maskasath and its godown in Octroi free zone in Wardhaman Nagar.
The team had seized a stock of betel nuts worth Rs 8,56,14,780 weighing 4,61,068 kg. The 23 samples were sent for analysis and after receiving the report, further action would be initiated under the provisions of Food Safety Standards Act. The raids were conducted under the guidance of Joint Commissioner (Food) Chandrakant Pawar and under the leadership of Assistant Commissioner (Food) Sharad Kolte by FSO (Vigilance) Abhay Deshpande; FSOs from Amravati and Nagpur divisions including Rajkumar Kolwadkar, Bhaurao Chavan, Vinod Dhawad, Nilesh Tathod, Ghanshyam Dande, Lalit Soyam, Raosaheb Wakade, Raviraj Dhabarde, Amarnath Sontakke, Pravin Umap, Prabhakar Kale, Akhilesh Raut, Anand Mahajan, Anant Chaudhari, Amitkumar Upalap, Piyush Manwatkar and Mahesh Chahande. The special drive on the suspected food items will continue in future. Citizens should inform FDA on phone number 0712-2562204 in case of any adulteration in food items would be observed, informs Joint Commissioner (Food) FDA in a press release.