Adulteration hits sweets market

Packaged items, cookies, fruit juices and dry fruits have out-fashioned the traditional sweets due to cases of adulteration that have surfaced this season

Adulteration hits sweets market

Packaged items, cookies, fruit juices and dry fruits have out-fashioned the traditional sweets due to cases of adulteration that have surfaced this season

This festive season, already hit badly by constant rise in prices, is resulting in a rather dull pre-Diwali preparation. Shopkeepers are on their toes, with cases of adulteration being reported every now and then. Orders for sweets have gone down substantially. People are, instead, opting for packaged items, cookies, fruit juices, dry fruits, for gifts.

The business of joy: A street-side shop selling knick-knacks for Diwali

Packaged comfort
The markets of south and east Delhi as well as the wholesale market ufffdSadar Bazar ufffdare low on sale of sweets as other food items, which are safer, like chocolate packs, imported cookies and flavoured juices, are the preferred choices of customers to avoid any incidents of food adulteration this season. Satish Aggarwal, a sweets and confectionery shop owner in Lajpat Nagar market for the last 10 years, has not received a single order for sweets, while customers have been buying chocolate packages and juice baskets in bulk.

Satish Aggarwal, a sweets and confectionery shop owner in Lajpat Nagar.
Pics/Vatsala Shrangi

No sale
"Sweets have been out-fashioned in the last few years now as people are more interested in attractive packaged items. But the dent has come this year with many cases of adulterated food being found. This has made the sale of sweets almost negligible this season, though we are still expecting people to turn up for them just the day before the festival," said Aggarwal.

According to a confectionery shop owner in Mayur Vihar, east Delhi, there have been more people coming in with orders for chocolates, cookies and banana wafers in large packs. "This time of the year, surprisingly, we are scoring above the sweets shops as more Diwali customers are coming in to order for packaged items instead of going for the traditional sweets," said Rajiv Sinha, a resident and shopkeeper in Mayur Vihar, Phase II. Meanwhile, vendors of flowers, candles and decorative items in the area are having a rough time as according to them the season rush is not as expected this year.