Kathmandu, April 15:

Seeking legal action, the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control at Babarmahal referred 81 cases of food adulteration to the District Administration Offices in the last fiscal year, the department said in its annual report, adding that seven firms were involved in adulteration.

According to the report, pasteurised milk was adulterated in seven cases, ghee products in 23 cases, milk products in one, mustard oil in two, vegetable ghee in one and tomato ketchup in two. The cases were referred to respective district administration offices in the Valley.

The report adds that two cases each of spurious fruit products and spices, one of spurious tea, seven of adulterated cereal and pulses, six each of bad instant noodles and noodles, four of spurious biscuits, one case of adulteration in bakery products, seven cases of adulteration in processed drinking water, five cases of spurious dalmoth and bhujia, one case each of spurious sweets and papad and two cases of adulterated feed were referred to the quasi-judicial bodies. Jiwan Prava Lama, senior food researcher at the department, said the department didn’t want to disclose the names of the industries as the legal authority were yet to look into the cases. “Premises and surroundings of industries, processing plants, cleaning of equipment, storage condition of raw and finished products, processing technology used, good manufacturing practices, good hygiene practices and hazard analysis were what the inspectors looked for while monitoring and inspecting the industries,” Lama said.