Bags of low quality chilli powder laced with chemical extracts, unfit for human consumption and used as a mere husk in furnaces in China, are being supplied to hotels, hostels and other mass consumption centres in the State, Vigilance and Enforcement sleuths probing the incidents of adulterated chilli powder have found out.
During a recent raid on a cold storage, adulterated chilli powder stacked in 4,500 bags was seized by the Vigilance Department. The stock was registered in seven different names, but their identification could not be proved. Preliminary chemical analysis of powder revealed some shocking truths.
The powder is an extract of powder made of low quality, discoloured chillis, red oxide and cooking oil. Further investigations revealed that the powder is made at a unit in Khammam. The powder known in local parlance as “Chinese powder”,’ is being exported to China for use as an additive in furnaces.
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“We are perplexed when local manufacturers in Khammam told us that the powder exported to China is marked under the category of ‘not fit for consumption’, and we are probing as to how the bags have been stacked in cold storages here and sold locally. Often, the inferior quality chilli powder is mixed with quality powder and sold when the prices are high,” said a senior Vigilance officer. Consumption of this adulterated chilli powder could have devastating effects on digestive system and extract containing red oxide having carcinogenic properties could prove fatal if consumed. The “Chinese powder” is usually exported during February-May.
The dry inferior quality of chilli is powdered, mixed with red oxide and oil and again dried to form into a dry powder in a greenish colour. It still retains some pungency due to the presence of dry chilli. “We have sent teams to Khammam and are also enquiring with local traders. This appears to be a well-oiled network and the local traders are making hay by selling the adulterated powder to other States,” said the officer.
The ‘Chinese powder’ is being exported
to China for use
as an additive
in furnaces