The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s food department has sealed a namkeen factory in Naroda after an inspection found that the unit had no records or authorised disposal arrangement for used frying oil, according to food department head Dr Tejas Shah. The action comes as the civic body intensifies checks on sweet shops, farsan manufacturers, bakeries, mouth-freshener sellers and gift-pack businesses ahead of Diwali.
The Jain Super Namkeen factory was found to use about 125 kilograms of oil every day for frying farsan, but officials did not find documentation showing that the used oil was being handed over to an authorised agency for disposal. The municipal department subsequently collected samples of used frying oil and gram flour from the premises.
The food department also placed approximately 1,000 kilograms of prepared namkeen, along with stocks of gram flour and refined flour, under detention. The factory was then sealed, the report said. The supplied account does not specify the duration of the sealing or the next procedural step for releasing the detained stock.
Dr Shah said the civic food department had begun inspections of businesses involved in making and selling sweets and farsan as preparations for the festival season gather pace across Ahmedabad. The checks are focused on establishments that handle products likely to see increased demand during Diwali.
Used cooking oil is a specific municipal enforcement concern because commercial food units must maintain records and follow an authorised disposal process. In this case, the inspection recorded the absence of both the required disposal arrangement and supporting records at the Naroda factory. The municipal action therefore covered not only product sampling but also the handling and documentation of a key production input.
The food department also reported separate laboratory findings from two sauce-making units. Samples collected from a tomato-sauce factory at Al Aksa Estate on Sewage Farm Road in the Behrampura-Danilimda area were declared unsafe, and action under the Food Safety Act is expected, Dr Shah said.
At Shri Khodiyar Gruh Udyog in Meladi Estate, Gota, a sample identified in the report as “snack touchup” was declared unsafe. Tomato paste and potato paste samples from the same factory were classified as substandard. The food department said legal action would also be taken against that unit.
The report did not provide the laboratory test values, the specific provisions proposed in each case, or details of any prosecution or penalty already imposed. It also did not state whether the detained namkeen and raw-material stocks would be destroyed, released or retained pending further testing.
The municipal department’s inspections are continuing across Ahmedabad’s festive food-supply network. Further action will depend on the sampling results and the legal process under food-safety regulations, while the civic authority has not announced a broader list of inspected establishments in the supplied report.
