Crackdown Reveals Dirty Underbelly of City's Food Businesses

Hyderabad:The city appears to be in the grip of a pandemic of unscrupulous businesses selling adulterated, stale, and even rotten food materials and foods made using such products. The crackdown by the city police on such businesses has begun to reveal the true extent of the problem and how the GHMC, which is vested with the responsibility of keeping an eye on business enterprises and licencing them, has been in the dark on such goings on.

Just in about a month since city police commissioner V.C. Sajjanar launched the Hyderabad Food Adulteration Surveillance Team (H-FAST), with the sole purpose of detecting and prosecuting food adulteration, this team of 28 police officers has much to show for their work – all of 62 tonnes of adulterated, expired, or rotten foods, or final preparations using such materials.

Averaging at more than 2 tonnes a day, the seized materials do not include the 12 tonnes of offal and meat products seized by the police in the city on Thursday.

“It is not just the concerns about such food materials, equally, if not more concerning is the poor hygiene in places where foods are being manufactured,” Sajjanar told Deccan Chronicle on Thursday.

The seizures indicate the scale of the problem that has clearly emerged as a serious menace to public health. Asked about products, such as Osmania biscuits, or paneer made with adulterated raw materials that are already in the supply chain, Sajjanar said, “What we have done is a start, there is a long way to go. We are also coordinating with the GHMC to have it step up its inspections on food businesses, check licences, and take action. There are teething problems but these will be overcome in the days to come.”

The city police chief called on people to be cautious about the quality of food they purchase. “People also should be careful about checking and finding out where the foods they are buying are coming from. On our part, we are trying to increase awareness on this issue.”

“We have already held meetings with representatives of various food businesses to impress upon them the importance of using quality materials. This is just the start and we, along with GHMC and other departments, will continue to crack down and create awareness on these issues,” Sajjanar said.

New born H-FAST of city police makes its mark

Items – Cases – Quantity – Problem

Ginger garlic paste – 22 – 18 tonnes – Low quality raw materials

Tea powder – 4 – 2 tonnes – Added colour, dust, poor quality leaves

Chicken/meat – 4 – 17 tonnes – Nearly perished state, bacterial contamination risk

Curd – 1 – 2.5 tonnes – Spoils easily, added starch

Paneer – 3 – 4.5 tonnes – Added starch, low quality milk used

Chips/candy – 1 – 100 kgs – Poor quality oil, artificial additives

Pickles – 2 – 9 tonnes – Unhygienic preparation, excess preservatives

Ghee/oil/cream – 1 – 4 tonnes – Mixed with cheaper oils, synthetic substances

Khova – 3 – 5 tonnes – Added starch, substandard milk

Samosa/Osmania biscuit/mixture – 20 – NA – Made in unhygienic conditions

Ice cream units – 6 – NA – Contamination arising from poor hygiene

Expired foods/fried onions – 8 – NA – Expired/unsafe raw materials

Restaurant food complaints – 6 – NA – Substandard ingredients, unhygienic conditions

Other cases – 11 – NA – Miscellaneous foods

Total – 92 – 62 tonnes

98 persons arrested till Wednesday, April 1

H-FAST tipline - 8712661212

NA - Quantities not available