Seven soft drink units shutdown temporarily, 15,620 bottles seized in Tiruchi

Seven soft drink units shut down in Tiruchi for illegal rebranding, seized bottles sent for testing, public urged to report violations.

Food safety department officials have temporarily shut down seven soft drink manufacturing units in Tiruchi district and seized 15,620 bottles in an enforcement operation.

Acting on orders from the Director General of Police, Chennai, and in coordination with the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Wing, the officials led by District Designated Officer R. Ramesh Babu, along with the police, conducted a series of raids on Tuesday.

During the inspection, it was found that the units were illegally rebranding bottles of well-known companies with their own labels, misleading the public and violating provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The seized items included 12,370 filled bottles of soft drinks and 3,298 empty bottles, amounting to a total volume of 2,650 litres, valued at ₹1,11,592.

All seized items were sent to the Tamil Nadu Food Analysis Laboratory for testing. Additionally, seven formal food samples were taken from the units for further analysis.

Mr. Ramesh Babu urged manufacturers not to reuse bottles from popular brands in their production. He also encouraged the public to report such instances to the district’s food safety helpline, assuring confidentiality and prompt action.