A racket involving tampering with expiry dates on food packaging has been busted in Navi Mumbai, and products of brands such as Maggi and Lay’s have been seized, the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Monday.
The license of Sadhana Enterprises located in Turbhe’s TTC Industrial Area was suspended following the operation, it said in a release.
The seized products included potato chips such as Lay’s, Kurkure variants, Fun Flips, Maggi Masala and Atta Noodles, and ready-to-eat/ready-to-cook products, the FDA said.
The action was jointly carried out by the FDA and the Navi Mumbai Police Crime Branch between August 24 and 29, the FDA said.
During inspections, it was allegedly found that manufacturing and expiry/use-by dates printed on food product packaging were being replaced.
Also, original labels of ingredients and nutritional information were replaced with new stickers and the entire stock was repackaged, the FDA said.
This enabled the sale of products beyond their expiry dates or shelf life.
The department seized 8,442 cartons linked to 10 exporter companies, with a total value of Rs 75,21,269, the statement said.
Unlabeled stock and expired food products worth around Rs 30,600 were also seized, taking the total value of the seized material to Rs 75.52 lakh.
Samples were also collected from Unique Fragrances and Pristine Worldwide as they allegedly did not have the necessary FSSAI licence and purchase bills.
A First Information Report was registered at Turbhe police station under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and probe was underway, the FDA said.
Expired Maggi, Lay’s, Kurkure Seized In FDA Raid On Expiry-Date Tampering Racket
