Sweets may leave you with a bitter taste this Diwali

CNN IBN

New Delhi, 04 November 2010: White paint in milk, crushed toilet paper in khoya and animal fat in ghee - you could find all of it in your sweets this Diwali. CNN-IBN joins Delhi government’s raids on producers of adulterated sweets. India all set to celebrate Diwali but this time around eat sweets at your own risk. You may be consuming paint and toilet paper for all you know.

 

If the sweets look attractive, think again! During Diwali, it’s easy give in to temptation but it’s also the time when you could fall victim to a deadly cocktail of adulterated sweets. CNN-IBN accompanied officials of the Delhi government on a raid to unearth adulterated sweets. It was here that we got a first hand glimpse into what happens inside factories that manufacture unadulturated sweets.

 

 

In the run up to Diwali, the Delhi government’s Prevention of Food Adulteration Department is cracking down on illegal godowns like these indulging in adulteration. A look at what greets you here, and I guarantee, you wouldn’t want to eat a single sweet this festive season.

While the owner of the godown managed to give us all this a slip, It’s the workers who spoke.

"Never seen the owner," said one worker.

"I dont know anything... I just work here, sir," said another.

"I am not the person you’re looking for, " said another worker.

With the large quantity of sweets recovered, officials feared the worst.

"It seems that they couldnt have been supplying to just one market but many across the capital," Dr. Brij Mishra, SDM, Narela.

If I can just show you the floor and where exactly they make the sweets, it’s difficult to even walk and the stench is unbearable.

Every year tonnes of khoa, mewa and milk are laced with spurious substances. There have been instances when milk has been mixed with white paint. Toilet paper crushed and mixed with Khoa and ghee adulterated with animal fat.

So this Diwali be careful with the sweets you eat because it could leave behind a bitter taste.