Food safety officers in Vadodara have sealed 8,136 kg of ghee at a factory in Por GIDC, south of the city, and sent four samples to a state laboratory. The Food and Drugs Control Administration’s Vadodara circle raided M/s Chalisa Foods in the Ramangamdi industrial area on the evening of Sunday, 18 October, after a complaint and tip-off, Gujarat Samachar and ETV Bharat Gujarati reported. Officials valued the stock at about Rs 42 lakh.
Tank stock and packed tins, frozen until the lab rules
The seizure has two parts, according to both reports. About 5,200 kg sat in a storage tank waiting to be packed, worth roughly Rs 26 lakh. Another 2,936 kg, worth about Rs 16 lakh, had already gone into tins, jars and pouches of several sizes under various brand labels. The FDCA stopped both lots on site.
Officials suspect the ghee is not pure, but nothing is proven yet. Earlier allegations, cited by ETV Bharat and DeshGujarat, held that the unit blended palmolein and other ingredients to imitate cow ghee. The lab report will decide whether the samples fail and which provisions of food safety law apply; the FDCA has said administrative and criminal action will follow the results. The reports name no brand owner as accused, and the role of the marketing firms whose names appeared on the packs is still under investigation.
DeshGujarat put the stock at about 10,000 litres. The 8,136 kg figure comes from the official count reported by the two Gujarati dailies, and we use it here.
A Sunday shift timed for Diwali sales
Gujarat Samachar reported that officials believe staff used the Sunday government holiday to process and pack the ghee for the Diwali market. Had the packing finished, the tins could have reached shops in the busiest buying weeks of the year. ETV Bharat reported that the products were sold in Gujarat and other states, and that the FDCA plans more inspections through the festive season.
Vadodara follows Ahmedabad’s failed ghee samples
The Por GIDC raid follows the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s own festive checks, in which five “pure ghee” samples failed and 3,142 kg was held back at the end of September. The same Vadodara FDCA office also sealed a codeine syrup supplier in Karjan earlier this month. For buyers, the practical point is that seized stock does not reach shelves: the sealed Por GIDC lots stay locked until the laboratory reports.
Sources: Gujarat Samachar, ETV Bharat Gujarati, DeshGujarat
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.