Mumbai: On Thursday, FDA said that during their Diwali inspections held between Oct 15 and Nov 3, 3,332 establishments were inspected across the state, leading to 1,501 improvement notices, 326 licence suspensions, and 15 licence cancellations.Of these, 1,037 FDA inspections were in Mumbai, with 583 improvement notices, 76 suspended licences, and four improvement notices served.Additionally, 438 food samples were collected in the city, and 28.745 metric tonnes of stock valued at Rs 1.01 crore was seized. Across Maharashtra, a total of 3,864 food samples were collected, and 1,886.44 metric tonnes of stock valued at Rs 44.3706 crore was seized.The Diwali drive monitors the entire supply chain from production facilities to digital delivery platforms. Food safety teams carry out comprehensive inspections across key sectors and check on kitchen cleanliness, cold-chain storage, storage temperatures and whether the food business has a valid FSSAI licence.The businesses covered include dairy producers, sweet shops, bakeries, street vendors, caterers, and supermarkets. Officials said the items during this season prone to adulteration are khava, milk, paneer, and ghee, illegal reuse of fried oil, fruits due to artificial ripening agents like calcium carbide and sweets with silver leaf which can be replaced with aluminium.Speaking to the press, FDA commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said, “One way to check for adulteration in edible silver is if it creates a foil when rubbed on fingertips.”He added that there is also information that in Amravati a sweet shop claimed to sell gold-plated sweets at Rs 24,000 per kg. “FDA has sent a team to check the samples. If it is as claimed, it would be allowed and if it is not, then it will be suspended,” he said.Mundhe also urged the consumers to avoid sweets of an unnaturally bright colour and to not eat sweets that smell sour, feel sticky or show fungus.
