Food and Drugs Administration keeps a tab on food quality

AURANGABAD: With Diwali just round the corner, the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has launched a special drive to check the quality of sweets at various shops in the city. The authorities have already collected around 30 samples as a precautionary step to prevent adulteration.
Officials have also appealed to the citizens to make sure that they buy sweets and namkeens from only those shops where the FDA certificates on display.
Anand Pardhi, assistant joint divisional commissioner of FDA (food), Aurangabad, said, "The food safety officers are already on the job of collecting samples of sweets, which would be sent to the FDA laboratory in Pune and Aurangabad for analysis."
He said in a bid to keep tabs on the sale of adulterated food items, especially during the festival season, FDA officials conducted surprise checks at around 10 sweet shops in the city. "We inspected nearly 10 sweet shops and collected 12 samples of different sweets, five types of oil samples, 9 milk samples and other items such as sugar, sauce, asafoetida and varai," he said.
One of the things which the food safety officers look into sweets is the colour. There are permitted colours, which are used in items like biscuits, ice cream and some sweets, and although not injurious to health, they are prevented from being used beyond certain limit, said Pardhi pointing out that the use of non-permitted colours is considered as food adulteration.
"As festivities are incomplete without sweets, citizens need to check the type of sugar used in preparing sweets as it plays a crucial role not only in taste but also on the toxicity of the final product. Most of the loose sugar we get are not refined using a sulphur- free process," Pardhi said.
Speaking about the use of mawa or khoya, which is basically dried milk used for making most of the sweets, he said, "Mawa has fat a content. If this content is not as per the prescribed standard limit, then such mawa cannot be allowed to be used. As per the standard, mawa needs to have minimum 30% milk fats. However, it is difficult to recognise pure mawa. It can be adulterated using sugar and even substances such as starch. Hence, registration or licensing of mawa shops has been made mandatory."
"As a precautionary measure, we have advised confectionery owners to prepare raw materials such as khoya, mawa and ghee themselves rather than buying it from other states. Most of the problems arise owing to inter-state export of products as we do not know how old these are," he said.
"Though the department has been short-staffed for some years now, with just 14 officials in the division and four in Aurangabad, it is taking all efforts to keep a strict vigil to avoid the sale of adulterated sweets. However, co-operation from citizens through alerts about possible adulteration could help us take more steps," Pardhi added.