A truck loaded with expired chocolates weighing around 10,000kg was seized from near EM Bypass in east Kolkata on Thursday night.
Police said the chocolates whose wrappers showed that they had expired at least one year ago were being taken for unloading at a godown in the city. There they would be allegedly repacked in new wrappers with extended expiry dates.
The owner of the godown, identified as Purvankan Chakraborty, has been arrested from Dhapa on charges of cheating, criminal breach of trust, adulteration of food and criminal conspiracy.
Chakraborty has purportedly told the police that he used to buy expired chocolates at a very nominal cost from a unit in Dankuni, around 20km northwest of Kolkata in the Hooghly district, and would repackage the chocolates with new expiry dates before selling them to various distributors in the city.
If the claims made by Chakraborty are true, chances are many of the chocolates people buy from stores thinking they are “fresh and edible” could have actually crossed their expiry dates.
Many Kolkatans The Telegraph spoke to said they have often felt that the chocolate bar they purchased even after checking the expiry date, does not taste like “the original one”. With practically no means to know whether the chocolate is fresh or it is an expired piece wrapped in a new shiny wrapper with a false expiry date, many may have been cheated even without realising that the chocolate they just savoured was unfit for consumption.
According to the food safety standards (packaging and labelling) regulations issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), packaged food could either have an expiry date or have a date before which its consumption is declared as best.
“Best before means the date which signifies the end of the period under any stated storage conditions during which the food shall remain fully marketable and shall retain any specific qualities and beyond that date, the food may still be perfectly safe to consume, though its quality may have diminished,” reads government regulations.
A senior official at the Kolkata wing of FSSAI office in Salt Lake told The Telegraph that the food that contains preservatives does not have a fixed expiry date and mentioned a “best before” date on their packet. “But chocolates do not contain preservatives. Hence, it has a particular expiry date beyond which it is unhealthy to consume. Even in the case of foods that contain preservatives, if the ‘best before’ date is over, it is advisable not to consume it as none of the companies or manufacturers would take responsibility if there is any side effect,” said the official.
Officers of Pragati Maidan police station said they found the truck near Dhapa and two of its labourers moving in a suspicious manner that prompted the cops to check the truck. The two labourers were also arrested when they were found to be part of the alleged racket.
Different types of chocolates of various brands, shapes and sizes were found in the truck — all having crossed their expiry date.
“Once we interrogate the owner of the godown and collect more details about the purported factory, we are going to verify his claims. It is a very serious offence if the manufacturers have been selling expired chocolates and facilitating other vendors to circulate them in the market as new,” said deputy commissioner (east) Gaurav Lal.
FSSAI officials said citizens can report suspicious cases of adulterated food to them through the “Food Safety Connect” app that can be downloaded at the Playstore for Android phones.
Check list
- Read the label carefully and check the expiry date/ best before date before purchasing
- Avoid consuming if past the expiry date/best before date
- Do not consume any food if it tastes unusual or foul even if it is well within expiry date
- Complaints related to standards of food can be reported to the FSSAI through an app on Android phones