FDA Flags Vegetable Fat, Fails Products on Quality Tests; 48-Hour Deadline to Pull Stocks
SRINAGAR: A major food-safety scare has hit Jammu and Kashmir after the Food & Drugs Administration (FDA) ordered an immediate ban on the sale, storage, distribution and display of 10 identified ghee batches following laboratory tests that found serious quality violations.
The action, taken under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, follows testing conducted by notified food laboratories, including the National Food Laboratory, Ghaziabad, and the Food Testing Laboratory, Kashmir.
The affected batches include Dairy Mohan Desi Ghee (05), Apna Dairy Milk Desi Ghee (DM-06), Milk Bite Cow Ghee (137), Nandni Desi Ghee (ND-28), Shahi Taj Desi Ghee (134), Daawat Fresh (VT09), Nand Krishna Cow Ghee (PC-05-26), Vandu Cow Ghee (D143), Dairy Milk Desi Ghee (OM12) and Mohan Dairy Ghee (06).
According to the reported test findings, samples showed beta-sitosterol/foreign vegetable fat, positive Baudouin test results, abnormal fatty-acid profiles and deviations from prescribed physicochemical parameters—findings that led authorities to classify the concerned products as non-conforming.
Samples had been collected from several locations, including Anantnag, Shangus, Larnoo, Bijbehara, Samba, Kathua, Jammu, Tral and Pampore, suggesting that the affected batches had reached markets across different parts of the UT.
The FDA has directed food business operators, wholesalers, distributors and retailers to stop dealing in the specified batches immediately and declare available stocks to the concerned Designated Officer within 48 hours.
The development has triggered fresh concerns over food adulteration and consumer safety, particularly because ghee is a widely consumed household product.