Delhi Government To Ramp Up Food Safety Checks Amid Festive Rush

The Food Safety Department of the Delhi government is set to conduct pre-festival inspections to evaluate the quality of commonly adulterated items, including khoya, milk, ghee, sweets, and other dairy products, according to officials familiar with the matter. The department has instructed its 11 district units to carry out random checks ahead of Diwali to safeguard public health. Officials noted that this initiative is an annual practice.

“The district units have been asked to maintain surveillance against the possibility of food adulteration ahead of Diwali. It is usually done every year during the festival period when the chances of adulteration in a range of food items especially ghee, sweets, milk, and other milk products go up due to high demands from consumers. The teams will carry out random checks and also collect samples when they suspect possibilities of adulteration,” said a senior official of the Department of Food Safety.

The Department of Food Safety oversees the production, storage, sale, and distribution of food throughout the national capital, operating under the guidelines of the Food Safety Act and related rules/regulations. 

The agency maintains vigilance by conducting surprise inspections and raids on food establishments, and collecting samples of items that could be adulterated, substandard, or mislabeled. During Durga Puja, food safety officers also collected around 500 samples of various food products, such as buckwheat flour, oil, and dairy products, from different parts of the city for testing.

"The chances of adulteration in confectionary and bakery products is also high, though the chances of adulteration in chocolates is comparatively less but anyway we have to be careful so that adulterated products are not produced and sold to the people which can pose health risks to them,” said the official.

The department has stated that legal action will be initiated against manufacturers if any of the 500 food samples collected during the Durga Puja inspections are found to be non-compliant with food safety regulations. Producing substandard food items could result in a fine of up to ₹5 lakh, while the penalty for misbranded products may reach ₹3 lakh.