Only FDA-certified stalls can sell sweets this Diwali

If you wait a whole year to indulge your sweet tooth around Diwali, we’d suggest you check if your vision is 20/20. Make sure that you can see the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) certificate on display at the stores from where you buy your sweets.

According to the recently enforced Food Safety Act (FSA), any manufacturer, retailer, wholesaler or distributor of any perishable commodity needs to have a licence or has to be registered with the state wing of the FDA. And s/he will have to mandatorily display the FDA’s certificate for all consumers.

Warning against poor quality products, FDA commissioner Mahesh Zhagade said, “If the manufacturer, retailer or wholesaler has a business of more than Rs12 lakh per annum, he has to register himself with the state FDA. If the annual business is less than Rs12 lakh, then he has to register himself with us. Earlier, as per the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, urban local bodies had the power to issue licences. Now, as per the FSA, only the state FDA can issue them.”

The state FDA, he added, is already in touch with various stakeholders involved in preventing food adulteration and contamination. The products on the radar include mawa, sweets, chocolates, ghee, refined oil, aata and maida. “We have also prepared an end-to-end checklist, which will be circulated, to ensure that there are no loopholes in the system, right from the time of manufacture till it reaches the consumer,” added Zhagade.

Senior FDA officials indicated that those manufacturing commodities, especially sweets, in unhygienic conditions have been identified. The FDA has also stepped up vigilance on landing sites, such as railway stations, ST depots and market yards, where the raw material is delivered.

“Even on district-levels, our officials will be checking vulnerable spots and sending us reports,” said Zhagade.

Officials, however, claimed that figuring out the purity of commodities like mawa can be difficult. “As per the standard, mawa needs to have 30% milk fats. However, it is difficult to just recognise pure mawa. It can be adulterated using sugar and even substances like starch. This is why the registration or licensing of mawa shops has been made mandatory,” added Zhagade.