Ahmedabad: A day after Gujarat govt banned sale, production and consumption of analogue paneer, raids continued on establishments across the state. In Ahmedabad, the civic body warned all manufacturers, vendors, wholesalers, restaurants, hotels, caterers and other food business operators (FBOs) against using analogue paneer.“Any individual or unit in AMC’s jurisdiction found endangering the health of citizens or keeping, using or selling analogue paneer will face action. They stand to have their licences cancelled and unit sealed. AMC will also proceed to file a case before the adjudicating officer/court under the Food Safety and Standards Act and the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporations Act,” an official said.AMC’s health and food safety department stated that inspections to stamp out production, storage, transportation, distribution and sale of analogue paneer will continue. On Thursday, department officials inspected dairies and paneer manufacturing units across Ahmedabad and collected 22 samples for testing at Public Health Laboratory. No stock of analogue paneer was found.
Teams from AMC’s health and food safety department inspect a unit in Ahmedabad on Thursday, Aug 6. Inspectpors collected 22 paneer samples. None of them were found to be the analogue variety
Under the Food Safety and Standards Act, AMC has been continuously monitoring food business establishments. Before the ban, establishments had been instructed to clearly state if they were using milk or analogue paneer.Over the last six months, AMC’s health inspectors collected 218 samples, of which 57 samples were declared substandard, 23 were analogue paneer and 34 samples had higher or lower milk fat content than required. In all these cases, charges have been filed before the adjudicating officer under Sections 51 and 52 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, which carries fines of up to Rs 5 lakh.
In Surat, around 235kg of analogue cheese was destroyed on Thursday, Aug 6
In its drive against banned analogue dairy products, Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) on Thursday seized and destroyed around 235 kg of analogue cheese. Three teams of food safety officers inspected 14 establishments involved in the production, storage and sale of dairy products. In Rajkot, food safety officials inspected a milk products company at Parevadi Chowk in Lati Plot and collected three samples of analogue cheese, low-fat protein paneer and paneer. The company was also served a notice for deficiencies in storage and sanitation.Similar raids were conducted in Jamnagar, where 12kg of analogue paneer seized from a pizza outlet was destroyed.
