Illegal sale of synthetic khoya peaks due to high demand

Manmeet Singh Gill

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 25

With the increased demand for sweets due to the festival season, the market for synthetic khoya is thriving in the city as it is being transported here from areas as far as Batala and Pathankot. Sources in the food market claimed that people supplying synthetic khoya to the city preferred to transport it on buses as it made detection difficult. 

The consignment in the recent instance in which the Health Department seized 10 quintals of sweets, too, was brought to the city on a bus. The sources stated that synthetic khoya was being sold from Rs 100 to Rs 150 per kg. 

The city has its biggest khoya market inside the Lohgarh Gate. Insiders said the demand would further increase in the coming months as the marriage season would be at its peak. A manufacturer of dairy products said, “These people use products such as urea, refined oil and sugar. Urea helps in whitening the colour and sugar increases sweetness. This kind of khoya is harmful for health.”  

While some adulterers use cheap and poor-quality milk powder to increase the weight of khoya, others use ‘ghachak’ powder. The increased demand for khoya lures people into the business as pure khoya requires skimming of milk which is laborious and time consuming. 

District Health Officer Shivkaran Singh Kahlon said, “These synthetic products are manufactured in far off places and then transported to the city. These people know that any such unit in the city area would be easily detected.” He said though checking each and every bus was difficult, they were trying to find out the timings and routes of such traders. 

He said a close watch on shops selling khoya was being kept so as to know about the suppliers. He added that the department had formed four teams to check the sale and manufacturing of substandard foods in view of the festival season.