Gautam Buddh Nagar : As Holi approaches, the Food Safety Department in Gautam Buddh Nagar has intensified its drive against fake and adulterated food products. Acting on the directions of the District Magistrate, a large-scale district-wide enforcement campaign is currently underway with the clear message: adulteration will not be tolerated during the festival season. While the crackdown has gathered momentum before Holi, it also raises a deeper question, does adulteration occur only during festivals?
Holi alert: District-wide raids and seizures
Under a special pre-Holi drive, teams of the Food Safety and Drug Administration carried out extensive inspections across multiple locations in the district. A total of 10 food samples were collected and sent for laboratory testing. Large quantities of unsafe food items were destroyed on the spot.
Major seizures
- Dadri railway road: During checking, approximately 150 kg of paneer being transported in vehicle number DL9CU6086 was seized. Prima facie, the paneer was found unfit and unhygienic for human consumption and was destroyed immediately.
- Jewar toll plaza: Samples of khoya and milk being transported from Aligarh to Delhi were collected for testing.
- Kasna bus stand area: Samples were collected from chicken biryani shops.
- Rabupura: Milk, cream and coloured chhena sweets were sampled from Kamran and Azhar Dairy outlets.
- Site-5 industrial area: A sample of skimmed milk powder was collected from the warehouse of Versatile Foods Private Limited.
All collected samples have been sent to the government laboratory. After receipt of the test reports, strict legal action will be initiated against the concerned vendors under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
Enforcement team and leadership
The entire operation was conducted under the direction of Assistant Commissioner (Food) Sarvesh Mishra and led by Chief Food Safety Officer Virendra Dwivedi. The inspection teams included officials such as Vishal Kumar Gupta, Syed Ibadullah, Mukesh Kumar, Vijay Bahadur Patel and Ravindra Nath Verma.
The administration has reiterated that enforcement will continue throughout the festive period to ensure public safety.
Seasonal crackdown, Permanent problem
It is undeniable that demand for sweets, dairy products and festival-specific ingredients rises sharply during Holi. This spike in consumption often invites a surge in adulteration. However, adulteration is not a seasonal phenomenon. It is a persistent issue that becomes more pronounced during periods of high demand.
Food adulteration has existed for centuries. Historical accounts mention strict market inspectors during royal regimes who punished traders for mixing impurities or indulging in under-weighing. Despite centuries passing, the malpractice has not declined. It has evolved.
The kuttu flour incident: A regulatory blind spot
Recently, hundreds of people in Gautam Buddh Nagar reportedly fell ill after consuming contaminated kuttu flour. The production unit was operating in Chipiyana village, located on the border of Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad.
The unit was registered in Ghaziabad, while allegedly operating near or across the jurisdictional boundary, leaving Gautam Buddh Nagar authorities unaware. Shared infrastructure and administrative overlap between districts created a regulatory gap that was exploited. This episode exposed serious coordination failures and highlighted the need for stronger inter-district data sharing and monitoring mechanisms.
Intelligence-based action vs open violations
Food safety teams often claim to act on secret information to seize fake paneer or dairy products entering from other districts. However, openly selling substandard food items in grocery stores and sweet shops raises another concern. Does routine retail monitoring require intelligence inputs? Or does it require consistent inspection systems, transparency and accountability?
The organic label and consumer vulnerability
In many developed countries, consumers largely trust packaged food quality. In India, food safety remains a major regulatory challenge. Products labelled as “organic” or “premium” often rely solely on packaging claims unless an incident forces verification. Regulatory intervention frequently becomes reactive, triggered by illness or public outrage rather than preventive audits.
Beyond festive enforcement
The Holi crackdown sends a strong administrative message. Yet the larger issue remains systemic. Food safety cannot be treated as a seasonal enforcement ritual. It demands year-round vigilance, transparent licensing databases, stronger manpower deployment and proactive sampling strategies.
As the colours of Holi approach, the administration’s intensified action may temporarily deter adulterators. The real success, however, will lie in transforming festival-driven raids into sustained regulatory discipline that protects consumers every day of the year.