The revelation of large-scale anomalies at an edible oil wholesale store at Sham Nagar yesterday brings to the fore the illegal practices being adopted by some traders of food products in the city who are playing with the health of the residents by selling sub-standard quality food products found spurious and adulterated in many cases.

Yesterday’s seizure of 70,000 litres of edible oil found in a substandard quality from Hans Raj Vidya Sagar firm, was not the only exposure of substandard quality food products being sold in the market. But going by the history of such discoveries in the past, it points towards the common practice being adopted by many traders in the city with scant regard for the rules and regulations under Prevention of Food and Adulteration Act, putting the health of residents at risk.

Whether it is the most commonly used wheat flour or the commonly used spices included in all Indian dishes or the edible oil, the sale of the sub-standard food products to make easy money is rampant in the city, given the expose’ of the last two years.

Last year, some 100 quintals of broken rice, which is used as adulterant in wheat flour, was recovered from a mill at Jangpur village in Mullanpur while two flour mills at Bhai Manna Singh Nagar in the city were also found to have stored huge quantities of adulterated flour.

In the month of July, the health department had also recovered a huge quantity of adulterated spices, amounting to 3,400 kilograms from a wholesale store at Fieldganj area. The kinds of adulterants being used by the owners of the mills and stores in both the cases had shocked the general public.

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