More raids, vendors found selling soya as paneer

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 29

Food Safety teams have found vendors selling soya as milk paneer and that, too, without any expiry date mentioned on the packets. As many as 200 kg of soya paneer, without any date of manufacture or expiry, was found at a shop in New Sabzi Mandi, Ludhiana.

The packets of the paneer being sold at Sardar Paneer House at a rate of Rs 200 per kg did not have any batch number or other mandatory details about their manufacture or expiry. Samples were taken and the entire stock, comprising 70 kg of paneer, 40 packets (each of half kg ) of soya paneer and 20 kg soya champ, was seized.

Talking to The Tribune, Commissioner, Tandarust Punjab Mission, Kahan Singh Pannu, said “I am not saying that soya is an unsafe item. The issue is that it is being sold as a milk product without its date of expiry, which is illegal.”

The Ludhiana Food Safety team also intercepted a vehicle coming from Sangrur having 1,050 litres of milk. The vendor admitted having added hydrogen peroxide to the milk. Talking to The Tribune a senior officer said, “Hydrogen peroxide is added to milk to preserve it for a longer time. Milk laced with hydrogen peroxide, a preservative meant to kill bacteria to prolong shelf life of raw milk, is a serious health risk and may cause cancer.”

In a raid conducted early morning at around 2.15 am on Garg Chilling Centre, Goniana Road, Bathinda, 315 kg of suspected adulterated paneer and 150 kg of skimmed milk powder were seized by the Food Safety team. Samples of paneer, dahi, skimmed milk powder and milk were taken and sent to a lab for analysis.

A Patiala team along with Dairy Development team and the police raided GSK Milk Chilling Centre at Dhindsa Kharaud village in Nabha tehsil at 8 am. 1,200 litres of milk along with three bags of suspected material without any label, number or date of manufacture/expiry were found. One 5-kg bag of “zmax” glucose powder, five empty bags of glucose powder and six empty tins of refined oil were also found from the centre.

As many as 32 bottles of 5 litre each of chemical without any label and nine such empty bottles were spotted. Samples of milk, glucose powder and suspected adulterants were taken. Chemicals and material suspected to be used as adulterant were seized by the police.

At least 80 packets, weighing 200 gm each, 32 packets of 500 gm each and 15 packets of 1 kg each of oil sold as desi ghee were seized from Himmat Pura village on the Punjab-Rajasthan border in Abhor tehsil of Fazilka. Samples were taken for analysis and the stock was seized.

Another method of duping consumers

• Besides using other forms of adulteration, vendors also sell cheese made by coagulating soy milk with added chemicals as milk paneer 
• Besides being cost effective, vendors also prefer soya paneer as it has a longer shelf life.
• Experts say while soya paneer in its pure form is a healthier option, the unscrupulous manufacturers process it with chemicals to make it taste like paneer.