Mumbai, Oct 29 The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has seized 11,963.87 quintals of spices and spice products worth Rs 19.70 crore and suspended 84 food licences after inspecting 1,057 establishments between April 1 and October 29, officials said on Thursday.
In a statement, the FDA also said it has issued 557 improvement notices and collected 1,616 samples during the period as part of its statewide action against adulterated, substandard and unsafe spices.
“Of the 84 suspended licences, 27 were in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division, followed by Pune and Amravati with 14 each, Brihanmumbai and Konkan with 12 each, Nashik with eight and Nagpur with seven,” it said.
The department’s intensive special drive from October 23 to 29 alone accounted for 72 licence suspensions and seizures worth Rs 13.60 crore, the statement said.
The seizures during the special drive accounted for around 69 per cent of the total value of stock seized since April. During the seven-day drive, officials inspected 472 establishments, collected 783 samples and issued 249 improvement notices, it said.
“Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar recorded the highest seizure value at Rs 6.43 crore, followed by Pune at Rs 4 crore and Konkan at Rs 3.19 crore. Of the samples analysed so far, 337 were found to conform to standards, while nine were substandard, six unsafe and 18 misbranded. Analysis reports for 1,053 samples are awaited,” the statement said.
The department has also disposed of four compounding cases, imposing penalties totalling Rs 1.47 lakh, filed 13 adjudication cases and reported one case pending before a court.
The action followed a compliance order issued on October 15 and covered manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers of spices and spice products, the FDA said.
During the suspension period, the establishments concerned cannot conduct food business under the suspended licences. The sale, transportation, transfer, repacking, relabelling or disposal of seized stock without prior written permission from the competent authority is also prohibited, it added.
FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe urged traders to maintain records of raw material sources and purchase and sale transactions, and sell spices only in properly labelled packages.
The department advised consumers to avoid loose and unlabelled spices and check batch numbers, packing dates and best-before details while purchasing products.
(PTI News)
