Adulterated ghee racket thriving in Katargam busted

Surat: Stocks of two dairies were seized by food inspectors of Surat Municipal Corporation from Katargam area of the city on Wednesday. Butter and ghee of cheap qualities had been allegedly mixed with products of the two dairies and being sold to people of Katargam and Varachha as pure.
Food inspectors raided a dairy in Katargam and seized 25kg of loose butter and 34 tins of 15kg each of vanaspati ghee. They then raided another dairy in the same area and seized 12 ghee tins of 15kg each and 48 butter packs of 1kg each. Both the dairies were closed by a team of food inspectors who had received a tip-off.

A civic officer said, “Pure ghee sells at Rs700 per kg and butter at Rs400 per kg. But these dairies were selling butter at Rs160 per kg and ghee at Rs400 per kg. We have sent the samples from these two dairies for analysis.”

“These dairies were mixing cheap vanaspati ghee and butter with pure products and making huge profits. People were not being sold pure butter and ghee by these two dairies,” food inspector DK Patel said.

Senior SMC officials said most people in Katargam and Varachha buy loose ghee and butter. This gives an opportunity to unscrupulous elements to sell them adulterated dairy products.