Jammu and Kashmir FDA Prohibits Sale of 10 Ghee Batches

The Jammu and Kashmir Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) issued the prohibition under India’s Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The order covers products sold under Dairy Mohan, Apna Dairy Milk, Milk Bite, Nandni, Shahi Taj, Daawat Fresh, Nand Krishna, Vandu, Dairy Milk and Mohan Dairy.

Samples were obtained in Anantnag, Shangus, Larnoo, Bijbehara, Samba, Kathua, Jammu, Tral and Pampore. They were examined by the Notified Food Analyst at the National Food Laboratory in Ghaziabad and by the Food Testing Laboratory in Kashmir.

Findings from laboratory testing

The tests identified beta-sitosterol, described in the FDA’s findings as foreign vegetable fat, in some samples. The reported results also included positive Baudouin tests, atypical fatty-acid patterns and departures from required physicochemical parameters.

Under applicable food-safety standards, ghee must be made exclusively from milk or milk products. Material that does not come exclusively from milk fat is not permitted in a product sold as ghee. The FDA classified the affected products as sub-standard, unsafe or misbranded following the analyses.

Withdrawal and enforcement measures

Food businesses, wholesalers, distributors and retailers were instructed to stop handling the specified batches without delay. Operators that still hold the products must remove them from circulation and provide the relevant Designated Officer with stock details within 48 hours.

Enforcement personnel were told to conduct continuing checks so that the prohibited batches do not return to the market. The order applies throughout Jammu and Kashmir and took effect immediately.

Consumer advice and legal remedy

The FDA advised consumers to examine a ghee product’s brand, batch number and packing date before purchase. It also asked consumers and retailers to report any sighting or sale of the listed batches to the appropriate Food Safety authorities.

The concerned food businesses retain a statutory right to request re-analysis by an FSSAI-notified Referral Laboratory. That procedure is available under the 2006 Act and the rules made under it. The batches remain barred from sale and distribution while the regulatory process continues.