Udhagamandalam, a popular hill station and the most attractive tourist destination, is also popular for its home-made chocolates and ‘varkey,’ a type of biscuit.
Tourists to Udhagamandalam often return home with lush green memories, photographs and selfies, and of course, home-made chocolates and varkey. Udhagamandalam, Coonoor and Kotagiri are known for manufacturing of varkey varieties and the average production per day is said to be close to 12 tonnes, going up during the peak season.
Bakers who manufacture varkey are trying for a Geographical Indication tag. Given the taste and popularity that the product enjoys, people in the plains also bake a similar one and market it as varkey.
To prevent fake ones from the plains enjoying the tag of varkey, bakers are keen to get a GI tag. An application has already been filed for this.
At this juncture, varkey seems to be in an eye of a controversy with charges of fat from meat being mixed with it to add taste. However, raids conducted by the food safety officials resulted only in charges of unhygienic conditions in preparation of varkey.
Recently, after a raid, citing unhygienic conditions in which manufacturing was taking place the officials ordered that the entire stock at a baking unit be destroyed. The raid was to ascertain whether meat fat was being mixed. But prior to that, the condition of the baking units and the method of varkey production resulted in the order to stop production and destruction of the stock. Food safety officials plan to step up raids.
Manufacturers assure that the hygiene and sanitation conditions would be improved in a bid to ensure that varkey, famous since the days of colonial rule, would get a GI tag.
An office-bearer of the Varkey Manufacturers Association, M. Mohammed Farooq, said a GI tag would not only protect the product but also improve living conditions of manufacturers. He said that the association has already commenced a drive to generate awareness on ensuring cleanliness and hygienic conditions at the baking units.
Consumer organisations accuse some of the baking units of preparing varkey using unhygienic methods: batter softened with human feet. They want baking units to be modernised so that a larger portion of the preparation gets mechanised, eliminating direct human handling.
Mr. Mohammed Farooq said that 92 bakers in Udhagamandalam are members of the association and are being sensitised to modernise the baking units and maintain 100 per cent hygiene and efforts are on to make other manufacturers join the association.
With regard to charges of including meat fat, Mr. Farooq said that none of their members add fat and 100 per cent vegetarian nature of varkey will continue to be maintained.
Raids on baking units reveal unhygienic conditions under which the delicacy is being prepared
