1,950 litres of spurious desi ghee seized in Mansa

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 22

A team of the Food Safety Department on Sunday night seized 1,950 litres of spurious cooking material, which was being sold as desi ghee during the checking of vehicle near Jhunir in Mansa. The team said the seized material was bought from Haryana.

The Mansa Food Safety Department team headed by Assistant Commissioner Amritpal Singh Sodhi and along with official Sandeep Singh Sandhu conducted the checking on the Mansa-Sirsa road near Jhunir village, during which they checked a Pick up vehicle coming from the Haryana side and recovered spurious the desi ghee.

Amritpal Singh Sodhi claimed that during the checking of the vehicle, they recovered the desi ghee of three brands which included 1,152 litres of Royal Anmol Lite, 510 litres of Sri Madhu Dhara and 288 litres of Kedar Blended. He further said that labels pasted on these products were also misleading as on one side it was written light and on another side it was written vanaspati.

He said Ajay Kumar of Rampura Phul, who is the owner of the impounded material, was present in the vehicle. Ajay admitted during interrogation that he had brought this material from Ram Kumar Pawan Kumar Trading Company and Gaurav Trading Company in Fatehabad (Haryana).

The officials claimed that after taking the food samples, they sent it to the state food and chemical laboratory in Kharar for further examination and the stock of this spurious ghee had been seized.

He said action would be taken against the owner once the report from the laboratory was received. Sodhi said the desi ghee had been prepared by mixing two-three other oils together and they were selling it to the customer by terming it as desi ghee.

It is pertinent to mention that last month as well a joint team of officials of the police and the Health Department had seized spurious ghee and cooking oil in a large quantity from a shop located near one-way traffic road in Mansa.

The police seized 170 litres of spurious desi ghee and two quintal of cooking oil. Apart from this, even the label and desi ghee boxes of various brands, including Amul, Milkfood and Verka, were recovered from the shop.

According to medical experts, ghee with animal fat can block the circulatory system leading to heart attack. Ghee containing bone dust can lead to brain stroke and gangrene. Prolonged exposure can damage the liver and the kidneys and also lead to digestion problems.