Delhi: An alleged racket that repackaged expired branded food products by changing their manufacturing and expiry dates has been busted in Delhi’s Okhla Industrial Area, with seven people arrested and food products worth over Rs 20 lakh seized, police said on Friday.

The joint operation was carried out by Delhi Police, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Badarpur, and NGO Mission Mukti at the premises of M/s Westend Corporation Pvt. Ltd. in Okhla Phase-II.

The raid was initially conducted on the basis of information about child labour at the factory. While no child labourers were found, officials allegedly uncovered a large-scale operation in which expired and near-expiry food products were being relabelled and repackaged for sale, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) said.

According to investigators, the accused bought near-expiry or expired products of popular brands at low prices and used chemical thinners to erase the original manufacturing and expiry dates. Specialized printing machines were allegedly used to print fresh dates, batch numbers, barcodes and Maximum Retail Prices (MRPs) before the products were repackaged to appear genuine.