Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s food department has stopped the sale of 40,500 kg of mawa stored at a cold-storage facility in Gomtipur after finding that the stock carried no batch number or expiry date, according to a report by Nav Gujarat Samay. The seized stock, linked to Radhika Food Products, was valued at more than Rs 60 lakh.
The action was taken during inspections of mawa traders, sweet manufacturers and food storage facilities ahead of the Diwali festival, when demand for mawa-based sweets rises sharply. Municipal food officials said large traders commonly store substantial quantities of mawa in cold storages in and around Ahmedabad before the festive season.
The stock linked to Radhika Food Products was stored in 1,380 sacks weighing 30 kg each. The products were identified under the names Rajwadi Sweet, also referred to as Bajrangi, and Indian Dessert, also referred to as Neelkanth. The municipal department suspended the stock from sale because the sacks did not display batch numbers or expiry dates, the report said.
The inspection also found more than 100,000 kg of mawa belonging to around 60 traders at the Gomtipur cold-storage facility. About 80% of the stored quantity was reportedly linked to 15 major traders. The food department collected six samples from stocks associated with Hasmukhbhai Mawawala, Tulsi Mawa Centre, Rajwadi Sweet, Indian Dessert, Purohit Mawawala and SK Mawawala, and sent them to the Public Health Laboratory for testing.
The reported suspension is an administrative measure pending further examination. The supplied report does not provide the laboratory results or establish that the entire stored stock was adulterated. The immediate concern cited by the municipal department was the absence of mandatory product identification details, including batch and expiry information, which can make traceability and enforcement more difficult when food complaints arise.
The inspection comes as Ahmedabad’s food department increases checks on sweets, farsan, bakery products and other festive foods. Mawa is widely used in the preparation of sweets during Diwali, making cold-storage inventories an important part of the city’s seasonal food-safety chain. Checks at storage points allow officials to examine products before they reach manufacturers, retailers and consumers.
The report also said that samples from other traders were being tested and that further action would depend on the findings. It carried allegations from municipal sources that enforcement by the food department has been inadequate against businesses selling allegedly adulterated or poor-quality food products. Those allegations were not independently established in the supplied material, and no response from the named businesses or additional municipal officials was included.
The next formal step is the release of the Public Health Laboratory findings and any action that follows against the stock or the responsible businesses. Until then, the 40,500 kg consignment remains barred from sale, while the wider quantity stored at the Gomtipur facility remains subject to the department’s inspection and testing process.
