Food vendors jailed for 6 months, fined for use of banned colours

Rajkot: A municipal court in Rajkot has sentenced two food business owners to six months’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed fines after laboratory tests found prohibited artificial colours in food sold at their establishments.

Judicial magistrate first class (municipal court) Kamleshkumar R Gagnani convicted the operators for sale of unsafe food under Section 3(1)(zz) and Section 59 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, after laboratory analysis confirmed the use of banned oil-soluble dyes in their food products.

In the first case, Ravi Meghani, the owner of “GJ-3 Dosa Corner” in Ambika Township, was sentenced to six months’ rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 50,000. A sample of loose sambar collected by food safety officer K J Sarvaiya on Dec 12, 2019, was tested at the Food and Drug Laboratory in Vadodara. The laboratory declared the food “unsafe” due to the presence of an impermissible oil-soluble colour.

The second case involved Kanu Bambhava, owner of “Jay Dwarkadhish Hotel” on University Road. A sample of garlic-chilli chutney collected by food safety officer C D Vaghela on Nov 23, 2021, tested positive for illegal pink and orange oil-soluble dyes. The magistrate sentenced Bambhava to six months’ rigorous imprisonment and fined him Rs 2 lakh.