The court of the Additional Districts Magistrate (ADM) of Shahjahanpur has levied on Domino’s outlet in Shahjahanpur and its supplier in Pune a fine of Rs 9.50 lakhs after a sample of cheese that is used in its pizza failed to pass a lab test that was conducted.
The content of milk fat in the ‘diced super stretch Mozzarella cheese’ was found to be a lot below than the prescribed minimum limit of 35 percent. The fine was imposed by the court of the Additional District Magistrate JK Sharma.
A fine of Rs 4 lakh has been imposed on the district manager of Jubilant Food Work (franchisee for Domino’s Pizza) Shahjahanpur, a Rs 5 lakh penalty on Schreiber Dynamics Dairies, the supplier, and Rs 50,000 on the seller, namely Suresh Upadhyaya.
The sample of cheese was acquired on July 4, 2015, by the food security officer or FSO Yugul Kishore and was then sent for lab testing at government regional public analysis laboratory of Varanasi. The study of the sample was completed by food analyst UC Gangwar and was found to be having an insufficient fat percentage. The lab test was completed between the dates July 22 and 28, 2015 and the report was then sent to the Food Security Officer on August 5, 2015.
After the reports were received notices were issued to Jubilant Food, Schreiber Dynamics Dairies as well as to the seller Suresh Upadhyaya and then a case was filed in the court of the ADM. The trial lasted nearly two years after which the court imposed fine in this case. The defendant although filed a counter case in this matter stating that as the cheese wasn’t kept under the prescribed conditions of refrigeration, the sample couldn’t pass the lab test.
District manager of Jubilant Food, Abhishek Seth told a news daily that “I am not aware that a fine has been imposed in this case, as all legal issues are dealt by Jubilant Foods and they will only deal with this one as well.”
According to ADM Sharma the inability of the sample to pass the lab test was a serious issue as Dominos were not delivering what they have promised. This whole matter is surely very serious as Dominos has a huge fan following all over India and the consumers are from all age groups and playing with the health of its people is not a good sign for doing business in any country.
