Jaipur: Rajasthan’s health and food safety authorities have intensified inspections ahead of Diwali amid concerns over substandard mawa, edible oil and other food products entering the market during the festive rush.Jaipur’s health department is preparing a special drive to prevent adulterated and poor-quality mawa from reaching sweet manufacturers and consumers. Officials said the sharp rise in demand for traditional sweets before Diwali often leads to large quantities of substandard mawa being brought into the city from neighbouring districts.Additional Commissioner Bhagwat Singh said enforcement had been intensified, with a special focus on edible oil, ghee, mawa, sweets and other high-demand food products. Inspections cover manufacturing, storage, transportation and sale, besides checks for misleading labelling and suspected adulteration.Violations under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and related rules may invite sample testing, seizure, suspension or cancellation of licences and prosecution, depending on the case, officials said.Inspection teams will monitor supply routes, wholesale markets, sweet manufacturing units and storage facilities. Suspected mawa and other food products will be sampled for laboratory testing, with action against suppliers, traders and manufacturers found handling unsafe or substandard material.Meanwhile, the food safety department seized around 22,000 kg of edible oil from a warehouse in Bikaner’s Beechwal Industrial Area Sunday under its “Shuddh Aahar–Milawat Par Vaar” campaign.Officials seized Nepal-manufactured “Choice” brand sunflower oil and “Baba Ramdev Chhap” mustard oil from the warehouse of M/s Laxmi Narayan Bhanwar Lal. Three edible oil samples were collected for testing. The department is also examining the labelling and promotion of “Choice” sunflower oil for possible misleading claims.A food safety team inspected three establishments in Bikaner and collected six samples in a day. A sample of coconut peda was collected from Nagad Narayan Agro Industries, while two samples were taken from the manufacturing unit of Shri Bishanlal Babulal in the Rani Bazaar Industrial Area.Officials said improvement notices would be issued to firms where deficiencies were found.
