4 days ago
Food Safety wing seizes 16,565 litres of spurious coconut oil in raids
In surprise raids conducted at coconut oil manufacturing and trading centres in seven districts in Kerala as part of Operation Life, the Food Safety wing seized 16,565 litres of coconut oil, the quality of which was suspect.
The surprise raids were conducted by the Food Safety wing following a glut of complaints about substandard coconut oil flooding the market, now that the price of coconut oil in the open market has skyrocketed.
The maximum quantity of substandard or spurious coconut oil was seized from Kollam district. About 9,337 litres of coconut oil not meeting the standards, including 5,800 litres of coconut oil which had been packed under the brand names Kera Soorya and Kera Haritham with fake FSSAI number and manufacturing address, was seized from Kollam.
A total of 6,530 litres of spurious coconut oil was seized from Alappuzha district, including 2,480 litres of coconut oil in the brand name Hari Geetham from a shop in Mannarassala.
The raids were conducted by special squads of Food Safety officials under the Assistant Food Safety Commissioners in districts. The officials have collected 11 statutory samples and 20 surveillance samples.
Inspections to continue
The inspections will continue in the coming days and stringent action would be taken against those engaged in the adulteration of coconut oil, the Health department said.
The public can pass on any complaints regarding the quality of coconut oil using the toll-free number 1800 425 1125.
