As per the directions of Kahan Singh Pannu, Commissioner Food & Drugs Administration Punjab, Sh. Mohammad Tayyab Deputy Commissioner Kapurthala & Civil Surgeon, Kapurthala, under Mission Tandrust Punjab, today on dated 07 September 2018, Joint Checking drive against spurious Milk & Milk Products (MMP) was started at 6.00 AM with the team of Food Administration Kapurthala headed by Dr Harjot Pal Singh, Assistant Commissioner Food and Sh. Balwinderjit Deputy Director from the Dairy Development Board, Kapurthala, along with Sh. Satnam Singh Food Safety Officer.On a tip off, the team intercepted a Innova vehicle coming from district Gurdaspur carrying Paneer about 1.4 Quintals, meant for sale in Kapurthala. The Paneer was in two conditions ; Loose in 13 polythene packs & Sealed in 15 printed labelled packs (each pack of about 5 kg). 2 Samples of Paneer (one each from loose & sealed packs) taken at the spot. It is pertinent to mention here that the Paneer seized was to be sold at a price of Rs 170/- to the sweet shops as per the bill, so it seems to be of inferior quality.The entire stock of paneer about 1.4 Quintals was seized and kept under controlled temperature conditions & the stock will be dealt with on the receipt of report of analysis from State Food Laboratory, Kharar at the earliest.
All the sweet shop owners are strictly warned to prepare & sale Paneer, Khoya etc. on their own in their premises, if low quality MMP found in the premises of any sweet shop/dairy, strict legal action will be taken in accordance with the law. It is pertinent to mention here that as per Food Safety & Standards Act 2006, Paneer is the product which should contain Milk Fat minimum 50% of the dry matter & moisture maximum 60% ; Whereas in contrast the label of the packets of Paneer seized today by the Food Wing Kapurthala claim to contain 23% Milk Fat.Normal Paneer is available in the market at a price about Rs.260/- or so.Paneer brought from other districts is said to be sold in the market at a price of Rs 170/- or so. Such Paneer is usually prepared from Skimmed Milk Powder and starch etc. ; the Fat content of such Paneer is much less It is said that the Paneer used in functions like social gatherings & in the Marriage Palaces usually belong to this category.Thereafter, the team searched sweet shops in the Kapurthala city and at one shop opposite Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sultanpur Lodhi road, Kapurthala, fungus infected & sweets prepared with unpermitted colours were found & the same were destroyed; total about 1.6 Quintal ;dumped into a pit.Two other sweet shops were also checked, however no objectionable food material found in the premises.A sample of milk was taken from the other shop.Today total 3 samples taken, these have been despatched to the State Food Laboratory, Kharar and the report of the analysis will be made available to the department at the earliest. Further legal action will be initiated in the court of law against the offenders as per the report of analysis of the State Food Lab, Kharar under the Food Safety & Standards Act 2006 & Rules & Regulations 2011.This move by the Food department against the Food Business Operators engaged in the unscrupulous business of adulterated & spurious food stuffs will be continued in the future also to ensure that the citizens get pure & healthy food.