MARGAO
As part of the Surveillance Campaign on Adulteration of Edible Oils which has started in Goa, the Food Safety Officers of the Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration have drawn 18 samples on day one of the drive on Monday.Samples of different varieties of oils such as Multi-Source Edible Oil; Refined Sunflower Oil, Coconut Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Sesame Oil, Refined Groundnut Oil, Refined Palmoleen Oil, Refined Soyabean Oil, Mustard Oil; of different brands such as Fortune Expert, Saffola Active, Saffola Gold, Saffola Tasty, Sundrop, Sunflower, Dabur Anmol Gold, Deepa, Pitambari Sarvashakti, Saffola, Patanjali, Gemini, Ruchi Gold, First Crop, Sundrop Heart, Al Raja, Gemini, Fortune; were collected from the talukas of Salcete, Bardez and Tiswadi.
FDA Director Jyoti Sardesai informed that the samples will be forwarded to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) approved Food Testing Laboratory for analysis.
The sampling of edible oil products will continue till August 14, she added.
Sardesai said the FSSAI has the mandate to ensure the availability of safe and wholesome food to the people of the country. There are various instances of the sale of adulterated edible oils, the unauthorised blending of oils without a mandatory AGMARK license, sale of loose edible oil.
In view of the above, FSSAI is undertaking a nationwide surveillance campaign to check the adulteration in edible oils, compliance with respect to limits of trans fatty acids, labelling provisions and mandatory AGMARK license for Multi-Source Edible Oil; through the State Food Safety Departments from the August 1 to August 14.
Accordingly, FDA Goa will be conducting surveillance sampling for two weeks as above, through the Food Safety Officers from the retail markets for both packaged and loose edible oils (if any), Multi-Source Edible Oil (MSEO), and Vanaspati; for test and analysis at FSSAI approved food testing laboratories.
