INTENSIVE SAMPLING OF DESI GHEE: 200 SAMPLES SEIZED IN 48 HOURS: PANNU

Chandigarh, January 11, 2019: After a fortnight long sensitization drive for the desi ghee manufacturers, the teams of Food Safety Commissionerate conducted intensive inspections to check the sale of substandard ghee, informed KS Pannu, Commissioner Food Safety Punjab. In 48 hour long campaign nearly 200 samples of desi ghee have been seized from various outlets across the State.

It was seen that at many places cooking medium was being sold as Desi Ghee by misleading the customers by printing the product as “cooking medium” in a very small text which was probably overlooked by the consumers, said Pannu and added that such deception amounts to ‘misleading ’and is punishable offence under the law. Similary, Rs.350 per kg desi ghee adulterated with vanaspati oil like palm oil worth Rs.40 per litre was seen being sold as Lite Medium. A couple of cases of misbranding were also reported from the field, informed Pannu.

He said that samples seized during the two day campaign have been State Lab for analysis. He added that the Lab was earlier not equipped with suitable machinery to detect adulteration of ghee but now suitable machinery has been procured and the sellers of the sub standard ghee will not go scot-free.

Making an appeal to the public, Commissioner Food Safety said the consumers should be on guard against the misbranded, substandard and misleading products and minutely check the label before buying the products.