Amreli police busted a duplicate ghee-making factory operating under the guise of a water purification plant on Tuesday night. While the mastermind is still at large, they also arrested four persons.
Based on specific information, cops raided the factory in Piplva village and seized the stock and machinery worth Rs 23 lakh in a village of Liliya taluka.
According to cops, the perpetrators were using vegetable ghee, edible oil and some chemical and essence to make an ‘adulterated’ ghee. This was sold off as pure cow ghee in the market in various packing sizes.
After registering an FIR, police arrested Bharat Vizva, Sahil Zakhra, Ram Vizva and Navsad Gaha, while mastermind Aakash Vizva is still at large.
In the complaint, the police stated, “The duplicate ghee produced for financial gains was hazardous for human consumption.”
Deputy superintendent of police, Jagdish Bhanderi said, “During the raid we found 2,100kg of duplicate ghee, 135 tins of oil (each 15kg), empty bottles with wrappers in which the end product was supposed to be packed. Besides wrappers and machineries to make the ghee, including compressor, electric churn, huge utensils for boiling ghee and a pickup van in which they used to deliver it to various retail shops were also busted.”
The police found no licence or any document supporting to make and store the ghee. The food and drugs department and the forensic team also visited the place and the samples are sent for testing.
The arrested four accused were hired for labour and distribution work was done by owner Aakash.
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The state Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) warns citizens about toxic ingredients in duplicate branded ghee, which is being sold at cheaper rates. The FDCA has seized 8,467kg of adulterated ghee worth around Rs 30 lakh since September. Adulterants such as soybean oil, vegetable oil, palm oil, and ghee flavor are added to lower the manufacturing cost and increase profit. Regular food-testing labs often fail to detect adulteration, but the state has a high-tech lab for this purpose. More raids will be conducted in the future.
Source : Times of India Dec 21st 2023