From fake dates to adulterated khoya: Expired food worth ₹50 lakh seized before festivals, Kanpur raids expose dangerous scam

Food safety officials in Kanpur recently uncovered something that’s honestly quite disturbing - a massive stock of expired and adulterated food being prepared for sale just as the festive season begins to pick up. The raids happened across several parts of the city. And what inspectors found inside one wholesale warehouse was staggering. Nearly 10,000 kg of expired dates, worth around ₹50 lakh, had allegedly been sitting there, ready to be pushed back into the market. Officials suspect the spoiled stock was being repacked with fresh-looking labels and shiny stickers so buyers would assume it was newly imported. The seized items have now been sent for laboratory testing. If the reports confirm violations, authorities say legal action will follow. But that wasn’t the only discovery. At another location, inspectors came across about 675 kg of adulterated khoya - the very ingredient many households rely on for festive sweets. The batch was destroyed immediately. No chances taken. Officials also recovered adulterated supari worth more than ₹2 lakh, which met the same fate. And the timing makes the situation even more worrying. Ramadan is underway, and Holi shopping has already begun. Demand for food items rises sharply during festivals, and officials say some traders try to exploit this rush by selling low-quality or expired goods for quick profit. Teams from the Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration carried out coordinated checks across Kanpur as part of an ongoing campaign against food adulteration. More inspections are expected in the coming days. For shoppers, the message is simple: stay alert. Check expiry dates. Look closely at packaging. If something feels off, it probably is. Authorities are also asking residents to report suspicious food products immediately. Because during festivals, food brings people together, and no one should have to worry about what’s really on their plate.