There’s poison in my baby’s food!

The seizure of stale and adulterated children’s food supplements has cast a shadow over the quality of products flooding markets.A case has been registered and a fine of Rs 1 lakh has been imposed on the godown owner

KOCHI:Kochiites have always been obsessed with branded products, and this only gets stronger when it comes to choosing food supplement for children. And, this affinity has always  helped the big names thrive in the competitive market.But, the recent incident wherein stale children’s food supplements were seized from a godown at Maradu has cast a shadow over the quality of food products flooding the market.

Stale and expired chocolates, children’s protein powders and health supplements were seized by the food safety officials the other day.  This includes Milkos and Mulberry, manufactured by Mulberry food products. The godown was functioning as a distribution hub of over 50 well-known food manufacturing companies, mostly the children’s food.

“There is no doubt that the sale of adultered food supplements happened with the silent consent of the manufactures. Since the dealer is a middleman, the whole operation may have been carried out by the manufactures as they seem to have distributed new labels to cover up the expired products. We are ready to go to any extent to bring these culprits before the law,” said K V Shibu, District Food Safety Officer.
“There are certain food supplements that will not perish even after the expiry date. The workers have selected those items and wrapped up it with a new label,” said Shibu.

As per the Food Safety Officer, the department has also taken samples of over 20 products, suspected to not maintaining the quality prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. The department has submitted the samples to the Regional Chemical Centre at Kakkanad and the results are awaited.

“At present, we have sealed the godown and suspended the licence of the distributor. A fine of Rs one lakh has been imposed on the distributor. Only after getting the lab report from the Regional Chemical Centre can we take further action,” added the Food Safety Officer.

Mass drive soon

The Food Safety Officer said a drive will be undertaken soon to check food products displayed in supermarkets and other shops.“We will soon launch a mass drive across the district. Samples will be collected from the shops and mall and this will be sent to the regional analytical lab at Kakkanad. More godowns will be inspected in the coming days. We have also constituted a special team by associating with the health wing of the local body,” said Shibu.

Though Express tried to contact the officials of the Mulberry Food Products, they were unavailable for comments.Meanwhile, the police also registered a cheating case against the distribution centre under Sec 420 and 468 of IPC.  “We have started collecting the documents regards the registration of the company and the distributors. We will also check the stock registry of the product with the company to find a disparity,” said the police.