Ahmedabad: An AMC food safety probe has raised questions after suspected mawa (khoya) worth Rs 60.8 lakh, seized ahead of Diwali, was incorrectly labelled as ‘barfi’ by the civic body and tested as such by the laboratory.As a result, the samples were declared “misbranded”, leading to the registration of a misbranding case against the food company instead of a case involving substandard food. Misbranding attracts a lighter penalty than a substandard-food violation, under which the AMC can impose a heftier fine and destroy the seized stock.The AMC’s health and food safety department seized around 40,500kg of suspected mawa from a cold-storage facility in Gomtipur on October 28. It collected samples and labelled them “analogue barfi”. When the samples were analysed at the civic laboratory, they were found to conform to the standards for barfi, rather than being tested as mawa, weakening the case for a substandard-food violation.The AMC could therefore file only a misbranding case against the company, as the packets of suspected mawa did not carry mandatory labels showing batch numbers and expiry dates.According to AMC records, nearly 1.02 lakh kg of stock belonging to around 60 vendors was stored at the facility. The largest share belonged to Radhika Food Products, which had stored 1,380 sacks weighing 30kg each—a total of 40,500kg—under the names Rajwadi Sweet (Bajrangi) and Indian Dessert (Nilkanth).
