The test results are expected in a month’s time
Khoya or Mawa is widely used in making most Indian sweets. Due to the versatile nature of Khoya, it is the main ingredient in an array of Indian sweets such as barfis, pedas, milk cake, kalakand, halwas etc. Time and again it has been reported that adulterated Khoya is being manufactured and marketed across the country.
Federation of Sweets and Namkeen manufacturers recently met the CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and inter alia raised the issue of adulterated Khoya being supplied to them. As a result, a pilot survey was conducted by Department of Food Safety, Delhi under the guidance of FSSAI by placing Food Safety on Wheels (FSWs) at Mori Gate Khoya Mandi in Delhi between 31st August to 4th September 2020.
During this survey, Khoya samples were tested by the FSW staff for 3 parameters viz. Titratable acidity, maximum added starch and added sugar in Khoya. A part of the Khoya samples were also sent to the State Food Testing Laboratory for testing of other five parameters viz. Urea, Detergent, Neutralizer, Baudouin and B.R. reading.
Considering that there was some failure in the samples collected at Delhi during the pilot survey, it has been decided to conduct a PAN –India Khoya Quality survey.
The Commissioner Food Safety of all States/UTs have been requested to select Khoya mandis in their respective States/UTs especially in big cities; and place the FSWs for 5 days from 12th to 16th October 2020 and encourage Khoya buyers to get their Khoya sample tested. So far, the food authority has received ~700 samples for testing across 15 States/ UTs. Others will submit the data soon.
The test results are expected in a month’s time. The final survey results will help in identification of the key hot spots for adulteration of Khoya in different parts of the country and strengthen efforts at the States/UT level in devising targeted enforcement drives in the coming months. The whole exercise is aimed at ensuring availability of pure and safe Khoya for safe Indian sweets in the country.