Beware if you are purchasing desi ghee.

Beware if you are on a buying spree in view of the ongoing festival season, particularly if you are purchasing desi ghee.

Markets of the Doaba region are reportedly being flooded with spurious desi ghee made out of ordinary vanaspati ghee with the help of harmful essences.

Investigations by The Tribune have revealed that in their bid to make a quick buck, unscrupulous elements, based in Punjab and other states, particularly Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, are sending consignments of spurious ghee to the Doaba region.

The racketeers are also using marks such as Agmark unauthorisedly and with impunity. The artificial colours and essences make vanaspati ghee look like desi ghee to such an extent that an ordinary person cannot differentiate between spurious and pure ghee; only laboratory tests can detect impure ghee.

In most of the cases, such desi ghee is packed in attractive packets, which are sold by shopkeepers to gullible consumers, particularly in the semi-urban and rural areas, to earn hefty profits, running up to even 100 per cent.

Mr Darshan Singh of the local Bazaar Sheikhan, who deals in pure ghee, admitted that such ghee was being pumped into the market by certain unscrupulous elements out to earn huge profits during the festival season. He claimed that tests conducted reveal certain cases wherein hydrogenated vegetable oil (vanaspati ghee) was repacked and sold as pure ghee in attractive containers. The Tribune is in possession of one such desi ghee container having Agmark and a “manufactured at Gwalior” sign. The container, according to Mr Darshan Singh, contained only vanaspati ghee with added “essences and colours”.

Mr Mohinder Singh, a Model Town resident here, alleged that he was shocked to find that what he had purchased as pure ghee for Rs 145 a kg turned out to be vanaspati ghee during tests.

Mr Jagdev Sharma, spokesperson for the Jalandhar Desi Ghee Dealers Association, maintained the Jalandhar-based dealers were convening an emergency meeting tonight to discuss the situation. “We are going to investigate the matter and approach the authorities concerned,” said Mr Sharma.

Dr J.K. Bajaj, officiating Civil Surgeon, said his department was planning to take samples of desi ghee. “Though we have not taken pure ghee samples so far, of the 39 samples taken during the last month, 11 of milk and eight of fruit have failed.”