Sellers fined for substandard alcohol, jaggery

Panaji: The additional district magistrate cum adjudicating officer of North Goa has imposed penalties on several food business operators for manufacturing and selling substandard jaggery, gin, and whiskey.

The sellers of gin have been fined Rs 50,000 each for selling inferior quality gin with added synthetic colour—erythrosine—which is not permitted under the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulation 2011.

A fine of Rs 50,000 was imposed on a distiller operating from the Cuncolim industrial estate for selling cinnamon-flavoured whiskey. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) inspectors found the product below the standards of whisky stipulated under the Food Safety & Standards (Alcoholic Beverages) Regulations.

Seven traders were fined Rs 3,000 each for selling jaggery of poor quality and the use of synthetic food colours. The cases were filed by food safety officer Darlane Diukar.