FSSAI cracks down on food safety violations, suspends Delhi retailer’s licence and bans Daman ghee products

New Delhi: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Sunday said that it has taken strict regulatory action against two food businesses in Delhi and Daman after inspections uncovered serious food safety violations and instances of non-compliance.

The food safety regulator has suspended the licence of Marche Retail Private Limited in New Delhi for 30 days with immediate effect, while issuing a prohibition order against SDP Industries Private Limited in Ringanwada, Daman, over non-compliant ghee products and adulteration concerns.

“FSSAI has suspended license of MARCHE RETAIL PRIVATE LIMITED, New Delhi & has issued prohibition order to SDP INDUSTRIES PRIVATE LIMITED, Daman after uncovering serious food safety violations,” it said.

In the case of Marche Retail, inspections and a subsequent follow-up inspection found deficiencies in the establishment’s design, operational controls, sanitation, personal hygiene, food-handler training and mandatory record-keeping. The required medical records of food handlers were also unavailable, while prescribed food safety and hygiene documentation was not adequately maintained.

Consequently, the FSSAI licence issued to Marche Retail Private Limited has been suspended for 30 days. The food business operator has been directed to immediately cease all food business activities until the identified deficiencies are rectified and compliance is verified by the competent authority.

Separately, FSSAI has issued a prohibition order against SDP Industries Private Limited, Ringanwada, Daman, following enforcement inspections and sampling of multiple ghee products manufactured by the company. The products, marketed under brands including “Shraddha”, “Shree Saras” and “Gokul”, were found to be non-compliant with requirements under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the regulations framed under it.

Laboratory analysis of the ghee samples detected beta-sitosterol, a plant sterol that is required to be absent in ghee, along with non-conformity in fatty-acid composition. According to the regulator, the findings were indicative of the presence of foreign or vegetable fats and raised serious food safety concerns.

The food business operator exercised its statutory right to appeal the initial laboratory findings. The appealed samples were subsequently sent to the Referral Food Laboratory for re-analysis, which also confirmed non-conformity in the tested samples, strengthening the basis for regulatory action.

FSSAI said the repeated and continuing nature of the non-compliance across multiple samples, periods and product variants meant that the issue could not reasonably be confined to a particular batch or product.