Rajkot: A major crackdown on food adulteration in Junagadh, Gir Somnath and Porbandar districts has led to the seizure of large quantities of materials used to manufacture spurious milk.The Gir Somnath special operations group (SOG) busted an operation making spurious milk on Monday. The team raided the residence of Ravi Karmata in a village in the Talala forest area and seized 3,120 litres of suspected spurious milk, 20kg of palm oil, 105kg of suspected adulterated milk powder and equipment, collectively worth Rs 4.68 lakh.During questioning, Karmata revealed that he sourced the raw materials from Sanjay Kirana Store in the Tekri area of Talala. Acting on this, the SOG team raided the store and seized a suspicious batch of raw materials, including milk powder worth Rs 92,900.Gir Somnath SOG in-charge PI D M Kagda said ingredients such as palm oil and a powder — Roquette Glucidex maltodextrin — are commonly used in manufacturing spurious milk.Food safety officers collected samples of the seized ‘milk’ and raw materials and sent them for testing. The exact composition will be known once the reports are received.Officials said that the consumption of such spurious milk can cause serious health issues, including stomach pain, acidity and gas. In some cases, hazardous substances such as urea are reportedly used, which can lead to severe kidney and heart ailments.
