Hyderabad Police Seize 25.5 Tonnes of Adulterated Ghee in Raids on 130 Units

The Hyderabad Food Adulteration Surveillance Team (H-FAST) of the Hyderabad police has seized 25.5 tonnes of adulterated ghee and nearly 36 tonnes of total materials following raids on 130 establishments across Hyderabad.

The enforcement operation, conducted over the past few weeks, targeted 39 ghee manufacturing units and 91 retail outlets throughout the city as part of an intensified crackdown on food adulteration. Police collected samples from all 39 manufacturing units and sent them for advanced laboratory testing, with a significant number of samples confirmed to be adulterated.

During the city-wide inspections, H-FAST teams confiscated a wide range of adulterated products and raw ingredients. In addition to the 25.5 tonnes of finished adulterated ghee, officers seized 8.7 tonnes of raw milk cream, 1,200 litres of palm oil, 600 litres of vanaspati (vegetable oil), artificial ghee flavouring agents, and 30 kilograms of starch.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar stated that genuine ghee is required to contain 99.5 percent milk fat. However, investigators found that illicit manufacturers were using two primary methods to produce counterfeit ghee devoid of standard milk fat levels.

According to the commissioner, some manufacturers completely replaced milk fat with palm oil, blending it with vanaspati and artificial flavouring. In other instances, operators used skimmed milk powder containing zero fat, mixing it with palm oil, vanaspati, starch, and artificial flavouring to manufacture adulterated ghee without any actual milk content.