Sale of counterfeit nuts rampant along coastal belt: Stakeholder
PANAJI
The trend of traders flooding the market with low quality, counterfeit products and selling them as 'Goan cashew nuts' can only be defeated by GI-tagging the genuine Goan brands, several officials and experts opined at a technical session held on the sidelines of the two-day Cashew Fest organised by the Goa Forest Development Corporation.
Several experts said after GI-tagging, a 'block chain' of cashew nuts produced here in Goa must be prepared detailing information on where the cashews were grown and in which factory the nuts were processed.
The session was attended by Richard Noronha, Designated Officer for North Goa of the Food and Drug Administration, Rohit Zantye of the famed Zantye cashew processors group, Preeti Choudhary, the Regional Director of Food Safety and Quality Authority of India (FSSI) West Division and Deepak Parab, Nodal Officer, Science and Technology Department.
Parab said, a proposal to issue GI tags for Goan cashews has been sent to the Centre.
"The GI tag is not issued on an individual basis but on the basis of the production unit. We have sent a list of three production units from Goa," Parab said, but added that most units in Goa process imported cashew nuts along with Goan ones and to avoid this an SOP will be put in place.
Interestingly, Rohit Zantye told the technical session that selling of counterfeit cashew nuts is rampant in Goa since 2019, especially in the coastal belt.
"The 'Zantye Cashews' brand is used by the shop but they sell third rate cashew nuts by labelling them 'Goan cashews' on the packets," Zantye said, adding that a 500-gram packet contains only 400 grams and the labels do not have the price or other details mentioned.
"We filed a complaint about this with the Food and Drug Administration and also with the Department of Weights and Measures," Zantye said, adding that several raids were conducted after the complaint.
"But this issue is still unresolved as the network of these traders is so strong that if one shop is raided, the remaining 50 shops are closed down," Zantye lamented.
He said, when Zantye's either sells in Goa or exports cashew nuts, their quality is classified and clearly mentioned on the packaging.
"There are 30 categories within Cashew. At the top of the list, W150 grade cashews are priced at Rs 1,400 and the lowest quality is cashew powder. The price of cashews varies according to the quality," Zantye said, adding that FDA should make it mandatory for the quality of cashew nuts to be mentioned on the lables.
According to FDA's Richard Noronha, the issue of poor quality cashews being traded as 'Goan Cashews' cropped up in serious proportions in 2019 and has risen since then.
"Mixed quality cashew nuts are sold and the good ones are placed as the outer layer in the packet. However on breaking open the packet, you find that quality of the nuts inside is poor," he said.
"We have conducted extensive surveillance and recorded cases. But we work under limitations and several other subjects other than cashew have also to be overseen," Noronha said, adding that the authorities and the industry must work together to use GI tags and resolve the problem.
Meanwhile FSSAI Regional director Preeti Chaudhari said that there are 22 different standards that come under the FSSAI regulations and manufacturers have to agree to the standard labeling and packaging process.
"FSSAI strictly enforces these regulations and violations should lead to FDA action. We should create a GI based block chain for Goan cashews. Under this initiative, the government should visit the cashew plantations and register the farmers as well as the cashew processing industry and issue batch number," Chaudhari said, adding that on scanning a QR code on the label, information of where the cashews came from will be available.
