Examiner Bureau | Srinagar:
In an aggressive move to safeguard public health, the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) of Jammu and Kashmir has enforced an immediate, territory-wide ban on the sale, distribution, storage, and display of 10 prominent ghee brands after laboratory testing confirmed severe adulteration, misbranding, and unsafe chemical profiles.
The regulatory crackdown, executed under the stringent provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, follows conclusive evidence from the National Food Laboratory in Ghaziabad and the Food Testing Laboratory in Kashmir confirming that multiple commercial batches were illegally spiked with non-milk substances.
Enforcement agencies have been instructed to immediately confiscate and pull the following tainted batches from market shelves across Jammu and Kashmir:
- Dairy Mohan Desi Ghee (Batch No. 05)
- Apna Dairy Milk Desi Ghee (Batch No. DM-06)
- Milk Bite Cow Ghee (Batch No. 137)
- Nandni Desi Ghee (Batch No. ND-28)
- Shahi Taj Desi Ghee (Batch No. 134)
- Daawat Fresh (Batch No. VT09)
- Nand Krishna Cow Ghee (Batch No. PC-05-26)
- Vandu Cow Ghee (Batch No. D143)
- Dairy Milk Desi Ghee (Batch No. OM12)
- Mohan Dairy Ghee (Batch No. 06)
Rigorous laboratory examination of the seized samples revealed alarming compromises in basic food safety parameters:
- Foreign Vegetable Fats: Presence of beta-sitosterol, proving the unapproved insertion of cheap plant fats into products sold as pure milk ghee.
- Positive Baudouin Test: Explicitly confirming adulteration with sesame oil or hydrogenated fats (Vanaspati).
- Physicochemical Violations: Severe deviations in fatty-acid profiles, violating federal mandates that ghee must consist strictly of 100% pure milk fat.
- 48-Hour Stock Surrender: All Food Business Operators (FBOs), primary distributors, wholesalers, and retail vendors are ordered to halt sales instantly and report full inventory tallies of the blacklisted batches to designated officers within 48 hours.
- Zero-Tolerance Vigilance: Field inspectors and local law enforcement have been mobilized across all districts to conduct surprise raids and seize non-compliant inventory.
- Consumer Warning: Citizens are urged to inspect batch numbers prior to purchase and immediately report any black-market sales of these prohibited products to local food safety squads.
While manufacturers retain the statutory option to challenge the findings via an FSSAI-notified Referral Laboratory, the FDA emphasized that its emergency prohibition remains absolute and non-negotiable in the interest of consumer safety.
