In what could be considered a setback to the Rs 500-crore Haldiram's Food International Limited, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has warned its country's citizens against consuming the city-based group's petha sweet as the product contained sulphites, which are sulphur-containing compounds used as additives to preserve food and beverages, but which, in rare cases, can also lead to life-threatening reactions in allergic or sensitive persons.
According to sources, the Toronto-based importer of Haldiram's Petha - Quality Natural Food - has voluntarily recalled the product from the markets. The importer has also cautioned Canadian citizens, especially those suffering from allergies, not to consume the sweet as it may lead to life-threatening reaction. This sweet, believed to have originated from Agra and sold across the world including Canada, contains sulphites as one of the ingredients whose quantity has not been declared on the packaging.
Director of Haldiram's group on Nagpur Sushil Agrawal admitted that they had received a message to this effect from their Canada-based dealer and they would soon be initializing steps to make necessary changes. The company has recalled about 20 cartons costing about $300 (Rs 15,000).
"It's happening with us for the first time but it's not a serious matter. They just wanted to have percentage of Sulphite contents printed on the packets. We anyhow mention use of Sulphite as one of the ingredients but haven't specified its percentage in parts per million (PPM). Now, we will paste new stickers having mention of Sulphite percentage in PPM on the packets," he clarified.
The director of global sweet and Namkeen giant added that sulphur was used in sugar industry for refining. "In abroad, people are more conscious about food products and there are strict norms about it. Recently, the Canada government has changed the food safety norms which we were not aware of. This action is part of new norms where mentioning specifications of all ingredients used in any food product has been made mandatory," he said.
He further elucidated that everybody consumes sugar having some quantity of sulphite in India or abroad. "Only in rarest of rare cases are consumers affected. It's definitely not life-threatening. Many consumers even suffer from groundnut oil allergy. CFIA warning is just a precautionary measure for those persons who've purchased it."
This is perhaps first blot as per the director on the multinational group having its origin as long as 1937 in Bikaner before being shifted to Nagpur in 1970s. The company having three manufacturing units at Nagpur, Kolkata and Delhi is popularly known as 'Haldirams Bhujiawala' is well-known for its brand of Namkeens.
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