New Delhi: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Sunday said it has taken strict regulatory action against two food businesses in Delhi and Daman after inspections uncovered serious food safety violations and instances of non-compliance.
The food safety regulator has suspended the licence of Marche Retail Private Limited in New Delhi for 30 days with immediate effect and issued a prohibition order against SDP Industries Private Limited in Ringanwada, Daman, over non-compliant ghee products and concerns of adulteration.
"FSSAI has suspended license of MARCHE RETAIL PRIVATE LIMITED, New Delhi & has issued prohibition order to SDP INDUSTRIES PRIVATE LIMITED, Daman after uncovering serious food safety violations," the regulator said.
In the case of Marche Retail, inspections followed by a subsequent inspection found deficiencies in the establishment's design and operational controls, as well as in sanitation, personal hygiene, food-handler training and mandatory record-keeping.
The required medical records of food handlers were also unavailable, while prescribed food safety and hygiene documentation had not been adequately maintained.
Consequently, FSSAI suspended the licence of Marche Retail Private Limited for 30 days. The food business operator has been directed to immediately stop all food business activities until the identified deficiencies are rectified and compliance is verified by the competent authority.
Separately, FSSAI issued a prohibition order against SDP Industries Private Limited in Ringanwada, Daman, following enforcement inspections and the sampling of multiple ghee products manufactured by the company.
The products, marketed under brands including "Shraddha", "Shree Saras" and "Gokul", were found to be non-compliant with the requirements of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and regulations framed under it.
Laboratory analysis of the ghee samples detected beta-sitosterol, a plant sterol that is required to be absent in ghee, along with non-conformity in fatty-acid composition.
According to FSSAI, the findings indicated the presence of foreign or vegetable fats and raised serious food safety concerns.
The food business operator exercised its statutory right to appeal the initial laboratory findings. The appealed samples were subsequently sent to the Referral Food Laboratory for re-analysis, which also confirmed non-conformity in the tested samples, strengthening the basis for regulatory action.
FSSAI said the repeated and continuing nature of the violations across multiple samples, periods and product variants meant that the issue could not reasonably be confined to a particular batch or product.
With IANS inputs