State food lab analysts in Namkum have indicated that the samples of khoya and paneer collected from various sweet shops in the capital and elsewhere before Durga Puja are substandard.
“The milk products do not contain fat in adequate quantity. Also, chilli powder samples that were sent for tests have been found to contain non-permitted colour. The problems are being found in almost all samples coming to us,” said a lab technician, requesting anonymity. He refused to specify sample numbers or source.
State food analyst Chaturbhuj Meena claimed that adulteration reports of many samples collected from different districts during Durga Puja had been sent to respective subdivisional officers.
“Paneer, khoa aur mirchi powder ke samples fail the. Zyadatar report SDOs ko bhej diye hain,” Meena said, but did not clarify if East Singhbhum and Dhanbad had received the reports.
Ranchi SDO Garima Singh neither denied nor confirmed adulteration in samples tested at the state lab in Namkum.
“I will have to check if the report has come to my office. Currently, I am on duty at the Murma fair,” said SDO Singh who had hogged headlines in the past week for sending 13 samples from various shops in the capital for tests.
Ranchi’s food safety officer Lal Bahadur Singh, who receives a copy of the reports going to the SDO office from the lab, appeared unaware of the situation. “I do not have any information. No report has been marked to me from the SDO office so far,” he said.
Citizens claimed food inspection was mere eyewash. “It is done every year during the festive season, but no penalty is imposed on shops found guilty of adulteration, if at all they are found,” said a businessman, not willing to be named.