The Rajasthan Food Safety Department has destroyed nearly 1.5 lakh kg of expired food products after a major crackdown on a local distribution company that had purchased the Amul-branded items just before the sell-by date and was selling them by changing the words on the packaging, reports said on Tuesday.
The operation followed a complaint lodged through the state government’s 181 helpline about suspicious activities at M/s Athlete Distributor, located in Kho Nagurian district, The Times Of India reported. Principal Secretary Health, Gayatri Rathore, was quoted as saying that the complaint was received on the ministry’s helpline.
A team led by Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO), Jaipur-2, raided the warehouse and recovered nearly 12,000 cartons of expired items, including noodles, ketchup, mayonnaise and energy drinks. “The warehouse was operating under suspicious conditions, with neighbors reporting that once 10 to 12 workers entered, the main gate remained locked throughout the day,” Food Safety Commissioner T Shubmangala said.
Investigators also found bottles of thinner, acetone and other chemicals used to strip printed dates from about 3,000 cartons, The Indian Expre reported. Authorities also found 4,500 new Amul-branded cartons meant for refilling expired stock.
Additional Commissioner Bhagwat Singh alleged that the company’s operator, Gagan Ahuja, “admitted” that he had learned how to change the expiry dates of selling old products from YouTube videos.
Expired products were destroyed within a period of four days. It required 27 trucks to transport the goods to the waste yard at the distributor’s expense.
How many, if any, of these items are on the market is still under investigation.
The items were manufactured by Kaira District Cooperative Dairy Producers Union in Gujarat and supplied by Advansis India Private Limited. Representatives of these companies confirmed that the expiry dates have been erased and pointed out that Ahuja usually buys goods close to expiry at deeply discounted prices, the TOI report said.
Amul has not yet responded to the news reports.
The warehouse has been closed and the company has been banned from doing food-related business, officials said. They also found that the company’s food license had already expired.
