FDA Seizes Rs 1.94 Crore Edible Oil, Suspends 5 Units in Beed District
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seized 1,19,187.5 kg of edible oil valued at Rs 1.94 crore and suspended the licences of five business establishments across MIDC Beed, Vadwani, and Majalgaon in Beed district last week. The joint operations were conducted at oil repacking units and commercial facilities dealing in loose edible oil as part of an intensive enforcement crackdown under the state's ‘Safe Food, Safe Maharashtra’ campaign.
The regulatory action was carried out under the direct guidance of FDA Joint Commissioner Shrikant Karkale and Assistant Commissioner Nitin Mohite. According to official statements from the FDA, inspecting officers uncovered widespread regulatory violations during the surprise checks. These included the widespread use of reused tins, unhygienic facility premises, improper or misleading product labelling, unsafe storage conditions, and a complete absence of mandatory quality-control records.
The largest seizures were made in MIDC Beed, where inspectors raided two repacking units citing alleged mislabelling, reused tins, unhygienic conditions, and missing quality-control documentation. From the first establishment in MIDC Beed, officials seized 66,652.6 kg of edible oil valued at Rs 1.05 crore. From the second unit in the same area, inspectors confiscated 45,995.7 kg of oil valued at Rs 78.22 lakh.
In Vadwani, FDA officers seized another 4,545.2 kg of edible oil worth Rs 7.24 lakh after finding similar statutory violations. Meanwhile, in Majalgaon, two separate establishments were found storing loose edible oil under unsafe conditions. Inspectors seized 1,746 kg of oil from the first Majalgaon facility and 248 kg from the second facility.
Following the inspections, the FDA suspended the licences of all five establishments with immediate effect and ordered the immediate closure of the units. Inspectors collected a total of 27 enforcement samples across the five facilities, which have been sent for further laboratory testing. In light of the enforcement drive, the FDA advised consumers to purchase edible oil only from licensed vendors and to carefully verify the FSSAI licence number, manufacturing and expiry dates, batch details, and proper labelling on packages before making a purchase.
