Officials said large quantities of dairy products are arriving in Hyderabad without proper packaging or mandatory labelling.

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Food Adulteration Surveillance Team (H-FAST) recently convened a meeting with dairy suppliers from Maharashtra, Haryana and Telangana, warning them against adulteration in paneer and khova, according to a report in the Times of India.

Officials said large quantities of dairy products are arriving in Hyderabad without proper packaging or mandatory labelling. The suppliers and receivers were put on notice that criminal cases would be initiated against those who fail to comply with an upcoming standard operating procedure (SOP), H-FAST inspector Ranjit Goud told TOI.

The SOP, once enforced, will make it mandatory for edible products to carry labels specifying the manufacturing date, expiry date and ingredients. At present, many such products are sold loose at lower prices, officials said. The suppliers operate storage centres on the city’s outskirts, which function as transit points for these consignments.

Cobwebs, pigeon poop in Big Basket warehouse

In a related development, the Telangana Commissioner of Food Safety team on Saturday, April 18, inspected a Big Basket warehouse in Kompally and found serious violations, including unhygienic transport of food items.

The warehouse was operating 22 transport vehicles for moving goods. However, their Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) license had no mention of transport permit, the Commissioner of Food Safety said.

Moving food items in unhygienic vehicles with rust violates Schedule 4 of transport conditions. The team also found pigeon droppings and cobwebs inside the warehouse. The employees were handling items in unsafe conditions and even sold unclean vegetables.