In the wake of the recent milk adulteration racket,the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has decided to keep a vigil on adulteration of sweets. FDA would also keep an eye on use of aluminum foils for decorating sweets instead of silver foil,during the Diwali celebrations. In the past few months,we have come across quite a few cases of milk adulteration in places like Pune city and Phaltan in Satara district. In August,a major milk racket was busted in Phaltan,in which a doctor was also arrested for fabricating a chemical composition that looks and tastes like milk, said Sanjay Patil,Joint Commissioner of FDA. He said,Against this backdrop,we are now extra cautious and want to keep a check on the confectionery market,as the demand and sale of sweets goes drastically up during this time. Our priority is checking two things: whether there is any kind of adulteration in the sweets,especially the milk-based products and secondly,whether these sweets were stored in unhygienic conditions before being brought into the market, Patil said. FDA has decided to conduct surprise checks and raids at the sweet shops in the city in a random manner. The special squads will collect sweet samples and send it to a laboratory. If the sweet shops were found guilty,FDA would prosecute them. Patil said,There are chances that products like mawa ,a milk-processed item that is used in various confectionery items,is not stored in hygienic conditions,which might lead to food-poisoning after consuming such sweets. Likewise,there are rising instances of using cheaper aluminum foils for decorating sweets instead of silver foils. We are going to keep a special watch on such items. Dr Abhijit Vaidya,chief of Arogya Sena said,Since the demand for sweets rises during festive season,adulteration too surfaces during this period. All the forms of adulteration in food items are forms slow poisoning,possibly leading to various diseases like kidney failure and intestinal complications. Some people indulge in adulteration for minting money out of it,therefore,stringent action should be taken against such anti-social elements. FDA has got eleven food inspectors and it will also rope in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) health department during the drive.
