Bengaluru Activists Demand Adulteration Testing Kits at Sweet Shops

Bengaluru activists and consumer rights groups have demanded that the Food Safety Department introduce a "test before you buy" mechanism, requiring sweet shops across the city to make adulteration testing kits available to customers.

Taking a cue from Ahmedabad, where sweet outlets were directed to keep testing kits accessible to buyers, activists want Bengaluru consumers empowered to run preliminary spot checks on festive items such as khoya, mawa, paneer, ghee, saffron, and silver foil.

The demand comes amid persistent concerns over adulterated ingredients during the festive season, when purchases of sweets and savouries surge significantly. Activists noted that while spot checks cannot replace laboratory analysis, they offer consumers an immediate method to identify suspicious products and hold retailers accountable for quality.

The proposed spot checks can detect added starch in khoya, mawa, paneer, and traditional sweets, along with non-permitted colours in brightly dyed items and artificial dyes in saffron. The kits can also reveal vegetable fat or vanaspati blended into ghee, as well as fake metal foils used in place of silver varakh.

A basic testing kit includes chemical reagents and tools such as nitric and hydrochloric acids, iodine, furfural solution or sugar crystals, a Petri dish, a stoppered test tube, a glass rod, and tissue paper. Nitric acid is used to check silver foil, while hydrochloric acid tests foil, dyes, and ghee. An iodine test that turns khoya or paneer blue-black points to starch, while furfural solution or sugar crystals help detect vanaspati in ghee.

Activists highlighted that these counter checks serve purely as preliminary screening tests. A positive result alone cannot establish legal adulteration. To initiate regulatory or penal action under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, food safety officials must formally collect suspected samples and submit them to an authorised laboratory.

Advocates also noted that the rise of online food deliveries makes stricter oversight and public awareness on identifying adulteration even more critical.