The Surat Municipal Corporation has launched a food safety drive ahead of Chandi Padva, collecting 35 samples of mava and ghari from shops across the city for laboratory testing as demand for the traditional festival sweet rises.
SMC food safety teams began collecting mava samples on Thursday as part of the civic body’s annual inspection campaign. Officials collected 15 samples from 15 shops and sent them to the SMC’s public health laboratory for testing.
The inspection shifted to ready-made ghari sold by sweet shops on Friday. Teams collected 20 samples from 10 outlets, taking two varieties of ghari from each shop to widen the testing coverage. The drive included prominent and popular sweet outlets, including Sumul Dairy, officials said.
A food safety officer said the test results would be declared within two days. The laboratory examination will assess whether the products are fresh and contain the required milk solids prescribed under food safety standards.
The checks come ahead of Chandi Padva, when ghari consumption increases sharply in Surat. The sweet is closely associated with the city’s festival celebrations and is sold through sweet shops and snack outlets. Community groups also prepare it in large quantities for distribution among members, while many residents make ghari at home after purchasing mava from local sellers.
That wider preparation and distribution network makes the quality of the main ingredient important beyond commercial sweet shops. Mava is a concentrated milk product and a key ingredient in ghari, meaning that its freshness and composition can affect food prepared both by businesses and households.
The inspection drive is therefore covering both the ingredient entering the seasonal supply chain and the finished product available to consumers. By collecting samples from multiple shops and testing different varieties at individual outlets, SMC officials are seeking to check compliance across commonly sold festive products.
The civic body said the campaign aims to safeguard public health and ensure that sweets consumed during the festive period meet prescribed quality and food safety standards. The immediate next step is the release of the laboratory results for the mava and ghari samples collected during the drive.
