FSSAI directs state/UTs to keep vigil on sale and manufacturing of sweets and milk-based products during festivals

The national food regulator has directed officials in all states and Union Territories to maintain “strict vigil” on the manufacture and sale of sweets, savouries, milk and milk products to check adulteration during the ongoing festive season.

Demand for sweets, savouries and products such as ghee, khoya, and paneer surges during the festive season, increasing the chances of such products being adulterated, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India said.

In such a scenario, preventive actions including special surveillance and enforcement drives by food safety officers and designated officers can curb such practices effectively and ensure the safety of such products, Inoshi Sharma, executive director, (regulatory compliance) at FSSAI, said in a letter to state and UT food commissioners.

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“Accordingly, it is requested that strict vigil is to be kept on the manufacturing and sale of sweets, savouries, milk and milk products… during the ongoing festive season in your respective jurisdictions,” Sharma said in the letter.

The regulator also said frequent enforcement and surveillance drives must be conducted to prevent malpractices and that mobile-testing units must be deployed at key places.

Mobile units

“Also, the Food Safety on Wheels (FSW), where available, are to be positioned in prominent markets and/or on the basis of specific intelligence inputs so as to ensure that such products are safe to consume and are strictly as per the respective food products standards. The matter may be treated as most important,” she said. FSW refers to the mobile food-testing units that have been dispatched to the states and UTs.

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Over 20% of the food samples tested in two of the past three years failed to meet the standards set by the regulator. The number of samples tested increased more than fourfold to over 451,000 in FY24.

The FSSAI has detected 105,907 non-conforming food samples in the country over the past three years. In FY21, 28,347 of 107,829 samples - or 26% - did not meet the FSSAI’s standards. In FY22, 32,934 of the 144,345 samples tested - or 23% - did not conform to the food safety parameters.

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