COIMBATORE: Around 280 kgs of sweets and savouries worth Rs 72,000 prepared with violations were seized by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) department recently.
Officials of the Coimbatore FSSAI warned people to be safe while buying sweets and savouries during Deepavali as some manufacturers have been reusing the oil they used to make sweets to make savouries as well.
K Tamilselvan, designated FSSAI officer, said that in the last week, they inspected around 344 retail and wholesale shops and seized around 784 litres of used oil stored at sweet and savouries manufacturing units in the district.
He added, “Usually the used cooking oil would be taken for alternative purposes as per the guidance of FSSAI. However, a section of people manufacturing sweets and savouries use used cooking oil. During our inspection, we found this malpractice at a few places and immediately seized the oil and food items and destroyed them.
This showed that most of them have been using the used oil for producing savouries, which people cannot identify. However, as there are colour changes in the colour of the sweets, this cannot be done with sweets. Hence, we are asking people to be aware of this issue before buying sweets and savouries this festive season.”
“Around 280 kg of sweets and savouries were prepared with violations like non-labelling, unhygienic process, and extensive use of artificial colours. The total worth of the seizure is around Rs 72,000 and we lifted samples for laboratory tests from 45 places. Among these, 21 units were issued notices for their violations.”