Daijiworld Media Network - Tumakuru (SP)

Tumakuru, Mar 22: After they received report that sugar bought by K A Traders located at Mandipet in the city contained plastic granules, food safety officer, Nagaraju, led a team of officials to the said shop on Tuesday March 21, and took upon inspection.

A customer named Siddesh had bought 50 kg sugar from K A Traders three days back. When selling the sugar on Monday, he had found plastic granules mixed with sugar. As soon as news about this finding spread, officials got alerted, went to the shop, and collected samples of sugar. Nagaraj said that the samples collecteld would be sent to Public Health Institute laboratory for testing.

The gunny bag in which plastic granules were found bears the name of a Belagavi-based company. Owner of K A Traders, Khaleel Ahmed, said he bought this sugar from a wholesaler from Bengaluru named Saleem. Plastic was found mixed with sugar by Siddesh, who bought sugar from K A Traders, when selling sugar to his customers. When approached, Khaleel Ahmed was taken aback. He said that he has never got any such complaint so far.

Handiwork of middlemen appears to be bright in this case. Proper investigation alone can bring out the truth. Khaleel also is of the opinion that the middlemen who buy sugar from factories would have been involved in this racket to make money at the cost of health of the general public.

By way of clarification, food safety officer, Nagaraj, said that no official complaint about the incident was registered and that the officials had voluntarily collected samples. He said that the samples would be got tested through a laboratory at Bengaluru, and report thereof would be available in two weeks. He too felt that middlemen who function as brokers would have been involved with this mischief.