In a blatant violation of FDA orders, a vendor allegedly broke the official seal of a godown and fled with 1.5 tonnes of bananas that had been seized on suspicion of chemical ripening. The pre-dawn incident occurred at 4:25 am on Tuesday, shortly after the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) had sealed the premises and collected samples for testing.
FDA officials later tracked the bananas to a shop near the Panjim bus stand, owned by the vendor’s brother. The recovered stock was destroyed. The godown owner, identified as Noor Mohammed, has since been detained and will be handed over to the police for further action.
The FDA raid was carried out amid suspicion that the bananas were being ripened using unauthorised chemicals. “We conducted the raid, took samples, and told the vendor that the report would be available by tomorrow. We locked the shop and left. But when we returned this morning, we learnt that the bananas had already been sold,” a senior FDA official stated.
CCTV footage confirmed that the vendor entered the premises around 4:25 am and transported the bananas using a tempo.
“Further investigation is in progress. If the vendor does not cooperate, he will be handed over to the police,” the official added.
The FDA was awaiting laboratory test results at the time of the breach, which would confirm whether the bananas were chemically ripened.