A small hill station around 60km away from Pune is extremely famous for its Chikki that no trip to Lonavala is complete without buying Maganlal Chikki.
Earlier this week, the Maganlal Chikki, a Lonavala landmark was forced to pull off its products from the market after a team from Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) found it had no quality control measures in place to prove its products were fit for human consumption. It is to be noted that Maganlal Chikki dominates the sweet manufacturers' segment all across Maharashtra.
A raid was carried out at the manufacturing and packaging unit of Maganlal Food Products by food officers from FDA's Pune branch on December 11 and found out that the manufacturer was involved in violating several rules of the Food Standards and Safety Act, 2006.
Hindustan Times reported that the unit lacked quality-check system, its food safety standards lacked national accreditation, and there were hygiene lapses in the manufacturing process.
The report filed by Food Safety Officer of the Pune region, RR Kakade, revealed that there is no assurance on the product being manufactured by the company that it is fit for consumption. The company has never carried out a food quality test in any laboratory approved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India or accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).
One of the owners of the company, Mangesh Agarwal argued that the allegation made by the FDA was entire "documentary in nature". He further said that "The fact is, there is no food adulteration or spurious substance. There were small packaging and technical errors against which the FDA took action."
One of the co-owners Ashok Agarwal said all the compliances would be done at the earliest. He added that "We have completed the process of sending products to a NABL accredited laboratory. We have also started hiring a technical person to supervise the products. ..in two days, our factory will start functioning again."
