Traditional sweets turn sour ahead of Diwali

Vijay C Roy
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 1

The sale of traditional sweets have taken a back seat this festive season compared to chocolates, confectioneries, dry fruits and juices amid reports of massive food adulteration, particularly spurious milk and milk-products from across Punjab.

Shops selling sweets say the sale of traditional sweet items has been affected by 20-40% compared to last year due to adverse publicity. They are, however, able to retain their business by selling packaged confectionaries and dry fruits.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Punjab has been conducting raids in the state for the past one month and it has seized spurious milk products in large quantities. The FDA has also found unscrupulous dairy manufacturers using harmful chemicals for increasing their profit margins.

“We have seized around 550 quintals of milk products, including sweets and desi ghee, in the state last month,” says FDA Commissioner KS Pannu. “In order to curb the rising instances of food adulteration in the state, we will increase our raids in the coming days,” he says.

As a precautionary measure against the sale of substandard sweets in the ensuing festive season, the food safety teams have been put on high alert. They have been directed to maintain constant vigil on the bulk sale and purchase of milk and milk products, especially ‘khoya’, besides the routine inspections, says Pannu.

Amritsar based-Bansal Group proprietor Anoop Aggarwal says there should be quality certificate issued to the sweets manufacturers. “Even those who are in the business of manufacturing sweets prefer chocolates, juices and dry fruits as they have longer shelf life. Spurious products have dented the business of traditional sweets,” says Aggarwal, who is also the member of the Federation of Sweets and Namkeen Manufacturers (FSNM).

“In a recent meeting of the FSNM, which was held in Mumbai, I had suggested that the federation should issue quality certificate to members to gain consumer confidence,” says Aggarwal.

Earlier, sweets were preferred by all. The trend is declining due to health concerns and fears of adulteration, says a sweet shop-owner in Patiala.

The decline in sales has given a fillip to the demand of chocolates, juices, dry fruits and other gift items. “If trends are anything to go by, there is a considerable rise in demand of around 30% for biscuits, juices, chocolates and bakery products this Diwali as consumers shift away from sweets amid fears of adulteration,” says Mandeep Singh, a Ludhiana-based retailer.

Due to adulteration, consumers are shifting to healthy and low-fat packaged products, say Chandigarh-based retailers. According to them, the online retail orders have also jumped significantly due to this reason.

Changing trend

• FDA has seized 550 quintals of spurious milk products, ghee
• As a result, there is 20-40% decline in sale of traditional sweets
• People prefer gift hampers of confectioneries and dry fruits