Market monitoring ahead of festivals finds sweets made from expired ingredients

As festivals approach, the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control has found, during market monitoring in Kathmandu Valley, that gundpak and pushtakari sweets are being made from expired and insect-infested raw materials.

The department said two sweet factories at Chandragiri-15, Dhungeadda, were using expired beaten rice (chiura), chocolate and biscuits, as well as insect-infested chickpeas, chickpea flour and peanuts.

Shree Krishna Pushtakari tatha Gundpak Bhandar, where the largest amount of inedible raw material was found, has been sealed. More than 500 kg of gundpak and pushtakari made there were seized and destroyed.

At another factory, Bajrabarahi Bhandar, suspicious raw materials without label information were found in use; about 350 kg of ready-made food items were destroyed and the factory was sealed.

During the monitoring, goods worth about Rs 260,000 were destroyed. Expired food items were found on sale at a shop in Swayambhu. The department has also decided to have a tea industry recall its expired or contaminated products from the market.