With the arrival of Diwali, the biggest festival of lights and joy, on one hand the whole country is immersed in excitement and enthusiasm, while on the other hand some profiteers and anti-social elements become active to play with the health of the people. During the festive season, the demand for sweets, khoya, cheese, ghee and other food items suddenly increases manifold in the market, taking advantage of which adulterators become active and start selling substandard and poisonous ingredients indiscriminately. To protect the health of the general public and curb such illegal trade, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and food safety departments of various states have geared up. Continuous raids are being conducted in different parts of the country, which has created panic among the adulterators and the administration has made it clear that those who mix poison in the joy of festivals will not be spared at any cost. FSSAI's nationwide campaign, adulterated products worth crores of rupees seized To crack down on food adulteration during festivals, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) launched a massive nationwide inspection campaign. Under this special operation, raids were conducted on various sweet shops, manufacturing units, cold storages and distributors' locations across the country. According to initial reports, during this strict action, thousands of tonnes of food items were seized which were not meeting the prescribed safety standards. These non-standard and suspicious products seized mainly include adulterated mawa (khoya), synthetic cheese, adulterated desi ghee, colorful sweets and expired food items. The total market value of all these seized materials is estimated to be crores of rupees, which were safely destroyed before reaching the general public so that any major health tragedy could be avoided. Strict action, license cancellation and suspension against establishments violating norms During the nationwide and state-level investigation campaigns, it was found that many big and small food businesses had flouted basic hygiene rules. At many places, the preparation of sweets was being done in extremely unhygienic and contaminated environments, where flies and other insects were found openly. In view of such serious negligence and blatant violation of food safety laws, FSSAI and local food safety authorities have taken strict administrative action. The licenses of dozens of businessmen who do not follow the rules have been completely canceled, while the licenses of more than a thousand establishments and units have been suspended with immediate effect. Apart from this, action has also been taken to seal several suspicious units and stringent Improvement Notices have been issued to thousands of food traders to desist from such dangerous activities in future. Activism of local administration and necessary vigilance for the public Not only at the central level, but teams of local district administration, police and food safety officers from different states are also continuously patrolling the markets. Preliminary testing of samples of sweets and milk products is being done on the spot through mobile food testing labs (Food Safety on Wheels). Officials say that this campaign will not be limited to Diwali only, but will continue regularly in future too. However, along with administrative actions, it is also important that common consumers remain completely alert while making purchases. People should avoid sweets with very bright colors, spoiled products sold at extremely low prices or of dubious quality. If any customer has doubts about the quality of food items, they can immediately complain about it to the concerned department, because your little awareness can keep you and your family safe from the poison of adulteration.
