The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has busted an interstate racket involved in recirculating expired and damaged food items back into the commercial market, an official said on Monday.

The FDA authorities seized illegal food stock worth over Rs 52 lakh in raids at establishments in Bhiwandi town of Thane district, the official said.

It suspended the food safety licence of a warehouse in Saravali after uncovering 1.5 tonnes of unbilled, expired food items worth Rs 1.67 lakh. In a parallel operation, the Nizampura police intercepted an interstate truck carrying 1,200 kg of expired flour and branded products worth Rs 5.18 lakh without any valid invoices, he said.

This followed raids at eight establishments in Bhiwandi that yielded undocumented, expired stock worth Rs 45.74 lakh.

According to the FDA, the syndicate's modus operandi involved large e-commerce and logistics firms hiring unauthorised scrap agencies, which fabricated disposal certificates and covertly diverted expired food products to unregistered warehouses.

Operators then used chemicals to erase original expiry dates, applied counterfeit manufacturing stickers, and resold the products at discounted rates, he said.

FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has warned that logistics firms violating newly issued stringent disposal norms, including mandatory geo-tagged video tracking and separate locked zones for expired goods, will face immediate, permanent license cancellation and criminal prosecution.

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