Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Nasik, raided the company’s manufacturing unit based in Vadivarhe at Gonde Dumala in Igatpuri tehsil and confiscated one of its leading products worth Rs 60 lakh.
Adjudicating officer and joint commissioner food (FDA) Nasik division Chandrakant Pawar informed FnB News over the phone, “Acting on a tip-off by Nanded police, we raided the manufacturing unit of the company and inspected the products being manufactured. Our team has confiscated all the manufactured products of Mango Bites worth approximately Rs 55 lakh and the storage of lactic acid worth Rs 6 lakh. Total goods worth approximately Rs 61 lakh were confiscated from the company's manufacturing unit.”
He added, “Lactic acid usage is prohibited under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, but this particular company has used lactic acid for manufacturing Kachha Mango Bite. The samples of Mango Bites and lactic acids have been sent to the government laboratory for further testing. The report will be coming after 14 days and we are waiting for the report.”
When asked about further action, he replied, “If the product which is sent for report is found to be of unsafe foods and injurious for health then we will prosecute them and, if it is of substandard quality then the company will be fined upto Rs 5 lakh.”
Investigative officer from Nanded police told FnB News, “We got a complaint from one of the kids’ parent who consumed Kaccha Mango Bite and suffered from food poisoning. Many kids in the Nanded area suffered from food poisoning after consuming Mango Bite. We informed the FDA officials about it and now are waiting for the report to come.”
He added, “If the report comes positive, we will arrest the person responsible for it.”
The company’s concerned person was not available for comment even after repeated contacts.
