A day after 22,000 litres of spurious desi ghee was seized in Kotkapura town of Faridkot, the police have registered a case of sale of adulterated food against two companies, Versatile Foods and Marketing Private Limited of Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Narayan Agro Foods Limited of Kotkapura, after a laboratory report confirmed that a tanker-load of desi ghee seized was unsafe and misbranded.The action follows a joint operation, in which a team led by Food Commissioner Amit Joshi arrived from Chandigarh after the Intelligence Wing of the GST Department alerted the Health Department to a tanker moving desi ghee from Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, to a factory on the Faridkot road in Kotkapura. Working with a local team led by Food Safety Officer Navdeep Singh Chahal, the Chandigarh team intercepted the tanker, bearing registration number UP-16LT-3444 and carrying nearly 22,000 litres of ghee, on its arrival at the factory.Samples were drawn and sent for laboratory examination and the tanker was taken into departmental custody.Chahal said the report has now been received and the sample found unsafe, following which the department has initiated legal proceedings against the two firms and a crimimal case has been registered.The FIR has since been lodged at the Kotkapura City police station under Sections 274, 275, 276, 318(2) and 61 of the BNS and Section 59 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale and sale of noxious food or drink), naming Versatile Foods and Marketing Private Limited, Greater Noida, and Narayan Agro Foods Limited, Kotkapura as accused.Officials said the seizure comes at a time when demand for desi ghee typically rises sharply ahead of the festival season, creating a lucrative market that unscrupulous traders often exploit by supplying adulterated or misbranded ghee to cash in on the surge. Further legal action against those responsible for the consignment is expected to follow, said Balkar Singh, the investigation officer in the case.