GUWAHATI, Sept 7

Mohali district police, in conjunction with the district health department, raided a manufacturing unit in Industrial Area, Phase VII on Tuesday. They were allegedly making spurious food products. The police have arrested Kishan Chand Bansal, his son Sonu Bansal and their employee Suresh Kumar on charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and offences punishable under the Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC and Section 16/1/A of the Prevention of Food Product Adulteration and Trade Act. The accused have been remanded in police custody for two days.

Punjab may be flopping on fronts like health, information technology but its flavoured Verka lassi, desi ghee,ice-cream, sweetened milk, panjiri, paneer, curd, and kheer are doing very well in the national and international market. Milkfed, state's leading cooperative, known for Verka brand in and outside the country has achieved 64 per cent growth in the sale of lassi, 37 per cent in sweetened flavoured milk, 31 per cent in ghee, 21 per cent in ice cream, 70 per cent in kheer and 39 per cent in paneer last year. Desi ghee and lassi have been traditionally strong area of Punjab.

The Union government has decided to provide subsidy to all cooperative milk marketing institutions for switching over to natural vanilla as a flavoured ingredient in their various milk-based products. The commerce ministry is preparing a scheme for this and a notification will be issued shortly. The ministry has planned to provide the difference in prices between natural and synthetic vanilla as subsidy.

Over GM crop trial: The anti-GM lobby group in New Zealand has challenged the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) for approving 10-year-field trials for genetically modified brassicas.

Government has withdrawn incentives given under various schemes for exports of skimmed milk and other dairy products, a move aimed to boost supplies in the domestic market and contain high inflation rate.

IN YET another step towards combating inflation, the government has withdrawn export incentives on skimmed milk and other dairy products. Benefits provided under vishesh krishi and gram udyog yojana (VKGUY) and focus market scheme have been withdrawn for export of skimmed milk product, casein (milk protein) and other milk products as well, a public notice put out by the directorate general of foreign trade said.

The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has taken over the management of Assam's own AMUL

Dabur, which launched its milk beverage mix brand Chyawan Junior four months ago, is planning a national-level rollout for it by September. According to the company, Chyawan Junior received good response in Maharashtra and West Bengal, where it is being test-marketed. It has already gained 1 per cent market share in these states. Another company to foray into this market is fast-moving consumer goods heavyweight Hindustan Unilever with its Kissan Amaze brainfood range, which is a milk beverage mix product, biscuits and snacks. The company is test-marketing its product in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The Rs 1,500-crore milk beverage mix market is dominated by GlaxoSmith Consumer's Horlicks and Boost, Cadbury's Bournvita and Heinz' Complan. The two new entrants