Delhi seizes 949 litres of substandard ghee, CM pledges food safety upgrade

Delhi's Food Safety Department seized about 949 litres of substandard ghee in raids at three locations in the city on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, ahead of Diwali. The largest haul, 389.9 litres, came from Bhogal Market, followed by 338 litres at Najafgarh Market and 221 litres at Shiv Vihar, where the operation was carried out jointly with Delhi Police. On Thursday, October 29, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the department would be modernised with new technology and given more staff, and that the campaign against adulteration would run through the year rather than only in the festive season.

Ghee holds a special place in Indian kitchens and in festival cooking. It is used for diyas and puja, for sweets such as laddoos and halwa, and in everyday meals in many homes. In traditional Indian food culture it is valued as a pure, wholesome fat. That reputation, and the jump in demand before Diwali, is exactly what makes it a target for adulteration: cheaper oils or fats can be mixed in and sold at the price of the real thing.

The Delhi raids are part of a wider push. In a directive dated September 29 and made public in early October, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the national food regulator, asked states and Union Territories to step up inspections, sampling and on-the-spot testing before Navratri and Diwali. It named milk and milk products, sweets, snacks, edible oils, beverages and ghee among the foods that need closer watch. Delhi has carried out several such drives this month.

What is new in this round is the promise about the department itself. Food safety enforcement depends on how many inspectors a city has, how quickly samples can be tested and how fast cases move. A seizure that waits weeks for a laboratory report gives sellers time to move stock. By pledging more staff and new technology, the Delhi government is acknowledging that one-off festival raids are not enough to protect buyers through the year.

For readers, the practical point is that the seized ghee has been called substandard, but the laboratory results on the 15 samples will decide what exactly was wrong with it and what action follows. Until those results are out, no product or seller has been officially found guilty of adulteration in this case.

Short-term: Nearly 949 litres of suspect ghee are off the market in the busiest buying week of the year. Shops and wholesalers in the three markets can expect follow-up checks once laboratory results arrive.

Long-term: If the Delhi government follows through on more staff and better testing tools, inspections could become routine rather than seasonal, which would make adulteration harder to hide at any time of the year.

Who is affected: Households buying ghee for Diwali cooking and rituals, sweet shops and caterers who buy ghee in bulk, traders in Bhogal, Najafgarh and Shiv Vihar, and food safety officers who will handle the larger workload.

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