The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s food department has seized 170 packets of counterfeit silver foil from a trader in Kalupur and 510 kg of substandard mawa from a shop in Asarwa, while sealing both premises during inspections reported on November 3.
The action began after the department found biscuits coated with foil at a cart in the Memco area. A rapid test conducted on the foil indicated that it was not genuine silver. Municipal food officials then traced the supply to a trader in Kalupur, according to Dr Tejas Shah, who heads the municipal food department.
The department used a decoy customer during its investigation before raiding the trader’s premises. Officials found 170 packets of duplicate silver foil, with each packet containing 10 sheets, and seized the stock. They also found original gold foil at the premises and collected samples of both the silver and gold foil for further examination.
Officials asked the trader to provide details and bills showing where the counterfeit silver foil had been sourced and which establishments had purchased it. The trader did not provide the requested information, following which the food department sealed the shop. The department’s account did not specify the establishments that may have used the seized foil or the period over which it was sold.
The inspection also extended to ghee traders in the Madhupura area. Samples from different brands were tested using rapid kits, and the department said that none showed the presence of vegetable fat. Despite those preliminary results, the samples were sent to the Public Health Laboratory for further testing.
In a separate action, the food department collected four samples of mawa from a cold-storage facility in Gomtipur. One sample from Tulsi Mawa Centre, located opposite Dada Hari’s Stepwell in Asarwa, was declared substandard. Officials said the mawa was sourced from Vallabhnagar in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
The department placed 510 kg of the mawa stock under seizure and sealed the shop. It also informed the Gujarat Food and Drugs Department in Gandhinagar and the Rajasthan government about the source identified during the inspection.
The actions show how municipal food safety enforcement can involve more than testing products at the point of sale. In the silver foil case, officials traced a product seen on a food item to a trader, sought purchase and sales records, and sealed the premises after those details were not provided. In the mawa case, the municipal department referred information across state administrative boundaries after identifying an interstate supply link.
The final status of the silver and gold foil samples, the ghee samples and the remaining mawa samples will depend on laboratory examination and any further action by the relevant authorities. The municipal food department has not disclosed penalties or prosecution details in the reported account.
