The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) seized more than 6,500 litres of adulterated ghee and associated raw materials on Wednesday, 18 June, following coordinated enforcement raids across Delhi and Haryana. The crackdown dismantled an inter-state counterfeit ghee network that had been packaging spurious product for immediate market distribution.

What Was Seized and Where

FSSAI inspectors raided two clandestine manufacturing units — one in Dwarka's Dhulsiras village in Delhi and another at M/S Bala Ji Food Products, Plot No. 29A, Sector 53, Phase V in Sonipat, Haryana. From the Delhi facility, officials recovered approximately 1,500 litres of suspected adulterated ghee along with 1,020 litres of unidentified oil believed to be used as raw material. The Haryana unit yielded a larger haul — more than 4,000 litres of counterfeit ghee that had already been packaged for retail distribution.

Notably, the entire stock was ready for dispatch to the market and was intercepted before it could reach consumers, according to officials.

How the Network Was Uncovered

The investigation was triggered by digital and print advertisements promoting premium cow ghee and regular ghee that conspicuously lacked mandatory FSSAI licence details and labelling information. Regulators identified the anomaly and launched a probe.

Central Food Safety Officers (CFSOs) then conducted a decoy operation, posing as ordinary consumers and contacting the sellers through the advertised mobile numbers to procure product samples. Those samples were dispatched under a prescribed chain of custody to a NABL-accredited laboratory for analysis.

Laboratory findings confirmed that the samples did not conform to prescribed standards for ghee and contained a mixture of vegetable oils and other non-dairy constituents. Based on this evidence, FSSAI intelligence teams mapped the full supply chain before executing the simultaneous multi-location raids.

Coordination and Legal Action

The operation was conducted in close coordination between FSSAI inspectors, local police, and Central Food Safety officers, reflecting the inter-state complexity of the network. All seized materials were placed under the regulatory custody of the respective Food Business Operators (FBOs).

An FIR has been registered against the accused for further legal proceedings under applicable food safety statutes.

Why This Matters

Ghee adulteration — typically involving the substitution of dairy fat with cheaper vegetable oils — poses direct health risks to consumers, particularly those using the product for religious, dietary, or medicinal purposes. This is not an isolated incident; food regulators have flagged adulterated ghee as a recurring enforcement challenge across North India.

This crackdown signals a sharper use of intelligence-led operations by FSSAI, moving beyond reactive inspections to proactive digital surveillance of unlicensed advertisers. Further action against other nodes of the supply chain is expected as the investigation continues.