FDA orders sugar to be dumped in the sea

MUMBAI, June 2: Nearly 1000 tonnes of spoilt sugar that entered Mumbai port in a cargo vessel M V Natalie last month will be dumped at sea ...

MUMBAI, June 2: Nearly 1000 tonnes of spoilt sugar that entered Mumbai port in a cargo vessel M V Natalie last month will be dumped at sea under customs supervision.

According to sources, preliminary tests conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after an Express Newsline report last week indicated that the sugar was unfit for human consumption or for use in alcohol distillation.

“To ensure the sugar does not enter the market, we have asked the ship’s agents to dump the sugar at sea under our supervision,” a senior customs official told.

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Anil Lakhina, FDA Commissioner, said that an FDA team boarded the ship late last week and obtained samples of the sugar which had been sent to the laboratory for testing.

“Not a gram of the sugar will be allowed to enter the market,” he clarified. Natalie’s cargo was diverted to Mumbai after the sugar shipment was rejected by Sri Lankan authorities in April. The 9700-tonne ship embarked its cargo of 25,000 bags of sugar at Buenaventura, Colombia, for buyers in Sri Lanka earlier this year.

Rain and sea water seeped into the consignment after the vessel was caught in stormy weather while sailing for Colombo. The ship arrived in Mumbai port from Colombo on April 19 and began discharging its cargo while at anchorage, nearly two kilometres offshore in the channel.