Officials raided firms in Thane, Navi Mumbai, Ambernath and Mira Road; believe the oil would have entered the open markets to meet the high demand during the festive season
Come Diwali and the demand for edible oil goes up. To keep a check on the sale of adulterated or substandard oil, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Thane, carried out raids across different firms in Thane, Navi Mumbai and Mira-Bhayander areas in a span of five days starting from October 5.
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Seized: The FDA seized oil stored in tin boxes and also loose oil, where the chances of adulterationu00a0are high.u00a0Representation pic
The FDA seized 20,833 kilos of adulterated oil worth Rs 20,19,847 from seven different traders and enterprises in the Thane district. The places where the oil was seized included Bhiwandi, Mira-Bhayander, Turbhe in Navi Mumbai and Ambernath.
Joint Commissioner, FDA, Thane, S K Shere said, “We seized oil stored in tin boxes and also loose oil, where we felt the chances of adulteration were extremely high. The chances of tin boxes being reused are extremely high and hence, we felt the need to seize the commodity.
In many cases, mixing of the two oils was also observed. Most of these,u00a0however, were packers and wholesalers, who do not need to keep loose oil with them in any case whatsoever,” added Shere.u00a0
The offences were more in the Mira-Bhayander area, where adulterated oil worth Rs 7 lakh was seized from Amrut Oil, followed by Vinayak Traders, where Rs 6 lakh worth of adulterated oil was seized.
Shere said, “The price of oil at present is extremely high, with groundnut oil being sold for over Rs 100 a kilo, and therefore, in order to save costs, there are wholesalers who mix two kinds of oil, especially expensive oil like groundnut oil with a cheaper variety. Since most of the oil is of substandard quantity, required action will be taken.”
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