Department of food quality cautious consumers
KATHMANDU: Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) has advised people to avoid sweets in Tihar as use the market is full of unhygienic and chemical colour used sweets.
“We cannot recommend people to eat sweets,” said senior food officer at the department Pramod Koirala.
Harmful micro-organisms were also found in the sweets samples collected in the Kathmandu Valley recenytly. “We have detected fungi is most of the sweets,” he said, adding that dirty kitchen and unhygenic storage system in the sweet shops are fueling contamination of micro-organisms. “Harmful bacteria also also found in sweets but they are in small scale.”
However, the department do not conduct comprehensive biological test of sweets as they do not have any standard for sweets. “We only examine presence of chemical colours and micro-organisms,” he said, adding that those elements, unfortunately, were found more in sweets sold in the valley.
The department has tested 30 sweets samples last year and all of them were sub-standard – inferior quality chemical colours and micro-organisms or use of adulterated raw materials.
According to the department, high-level of adulteration has been found in raw materials like milk, edible oils and ghee.
Ghee had highest level of adulteration in 2067-68 with impurity of 61.6 per cent while average adulteration in edible oils stood at 43.2 per cent. “Milk used in most of sweets are not pure,” Koirala said. “Of 76 milk samples tested in the fiscal year 2010-11, 40 were substandard or adulterated.”
Market monitoring team had also discovered substandard Kanhaiya brand ghee used in sweets in their raid in Anamol Sweets in Bhat Bhateni before Dashain. Likewise, popular sweets Gudpak was also found prepared from rotten sweets in Taja Corner and Sri Krishna Gudpak stores of New Road.
Raids in Anamol and Gudpak stores have significantly decreased the sell of sweets in the Valley. Sweets shopkeepers admit the fall of sale but refused to give details.
Goods seized
KATHMANDU: Department of Food Technology and Quality Control has seized seven types of goods from Bhat Bhateni super market on Sunday. “We seized the goods without labels that do not meet Nepali standard, said spokesperson of the department Pramod Koirala. According to him, inspection officer of the department seized 49 liters palm oil and energy drinks – 49 cans (150ml) and 43 cans (100ml) – as they had no product information in Nepali or English language, acoording to rule. Likewise, fruit cake (28 packets), Selroti (65 pieces) and Nimkin (44 packets) were also seized because there was no information about manufacturer and manufacturing date and expiry date. According to Food Act 1967 and Consumer Protection Act 1998, the labels should have information about manufacturer, manufacturing and expiry date, and price either in Nepali and English language.
Source: THT
