Nagpur: Food Safety Officers (FSOs) of Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) Nagpur Division on Wednesday raided a unit in Wathoda area and seized a stock of substandard and artificially coloured supari (betel nuts) worth Rs 4.91 lakh. Total 23 bags having 1439 kg spurious supari have been seized in the raid.
The FDA collected 3 samples of the betel nuts and sent them for analysis to the Food Testing Laboratory. The team that carried out the action included Assistant Commissioner Nitin Mohite, FSOs Amit Kumar Uplap and Raviraj Dhaporde under the directives of Joint Commissioner A Annapure.
According to reports, Wathoda police on November 16 had raided Jyoti Gruh Udyog and had alerted the FDA about the substandard and artificially coloured stocked in the unit. Acting on the information, the FDA team reached the unit in Wathoda and interrogated the owner of the factory Rushabh Subhash Betra (27), resident of Kamakshi Nagar. The factory Jyoti Gruh Udyog, situated behind New Suraj Nagar Kohinoor Lawn was manufacturing substandard supari and was selling in wholesale market.
The FSOs conducted an in-depth inspection of the factory suspecting the substandard and betel nuts with artificial colours. Three samples were sent for analysis and after receiving the report, further action would be initiated under the provisions of Food Safety Standards Act.
