Published On : Wed, Jun 17th, 2015

Eatables found constantly adulterated by a ‘leading seller’ in all its outlets

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Nagpur: In what may be termed as exploiting the consumers under its branded name, a Nagpur-based leading company, selling all types of eatables, in the categories of  sweets and namkins, at its outlets running in various parts of the city and outside, is found to be continuing adulteration in its products, despite a finger raised on it. It may be noted that the said company’s dozen such products have been recently banned by a US-based FDA due to adulteration found in them. Yet, the company seems to be incorrigible in its ill-intention of money making at the cost of human health. In another fault on the part of the said company, its ‘namkins’ are reported to be adulterated with powdered chemical substances called ‘supercell fibre’ and ‘michel 1000 fibre’ (all chemical fibre supplements), which are said to be used in preparation of medicines.

On the condition of anonymity, a responsible worker of the said company disclosed that the above stated ‘supercell fibre’ and ‘michel 100 fibre’ are used in preparation of sweets and namkins by the company’s factory-workers. The said fibre supplement is a kind of powder, a chemical substance, used in preparation of medicines for healing the patients, it is said. The question is raised by the citizens as to why this type of adulteration is made by the manufacturers of eatable items.

As per details, a leading company manufacturing eatable products in the city used to obtain ‘supercell fibre’ and ‘michel 1000 fibre’ from abroad, but now the said fibre supplement chemical is manufactured in the city itself. Sources informed that the company is now in a fix as to how this secret has been leaked out. The citizens are taken aback on this development as to what made the company to go for adulteration with chemical substances while the traditional preparation of sweets and namkins in the entire country is widely practised, and even in domestic circles, today, various types of sweets and namkins are prepared under domestically taught/ learned art of making, that too with no side effects on health.

Multani soil mixed in namkins
It may surprise the readers that the city-based leading company’s namkin-products contain a soft, smooth and creamy coloured soil found in Rajasthan, called Multani Mitti in local parlance. If one opens a Haldi-branded packet of namkin and spreads it on a good piece of paper it will be found that the oil content of the branded namkin will not get absorbed or saturated on paper even if kept as it is for a longer time. It means that the adulterant (here, soil) holds the oil content from spreading on paper. In rural areas of Rajasthan, and even in cosmetics, the Multani soil is used for hair and face. On the other hand, the unadulterated namkins’ oil content will get absorbed on paper. In other words, the entire paper (or even a newspaper piece) will become saturated with oil from the ordinary namkin.

Adulterated milk
Even the milk produced and marketed by the aforesaid leading company is found adulterated with what is locally called ‘ararot’ powder (also called ‘arrowroot’ or nishamadhulika in Hindi/ Sanskrit) which makes the milk dense (thick). The ararot powder is used as a starch for making the fabrics stiff (kadak). Its use in human body creates stomach disorder like strenuous pain, gastroenteritis, etc.

The question is raised as to when the food and drug administration department will pay heed to such a serious fault on the part of the erring company.

–  Rajeev Khushwaha