Popular Thane Bakery Sealed By Food Regulator Over Wood-Fired Furnace

A well-known name on Kalyan's food scene has run into trouble with the authorities after a complaint over how its bread was being baked led to the premises being sealed.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken action against the popular Prince Bakery in Thane's Kalyan district. According to bakery employees, the move followed a complaint alleging that the bakery was using a wood-fired furnace to prepare bread.

The bakery produces bread in large quantities and supplies its products to numerous shops across the city, which added to the scale of the case.

During the action, the food regulator sealed the bakery, and further proceedings by the department are now underway.

The action follows an earlier directive from the Bombay High Court, which ordered bakeries across Maharashtra to stop using coal or wood-fired ovens and switch to cleaner options such as LPG, piped gas or electric ovens. The court's directive came after it took note of the adverse environmental impact of coal and wood burning, and called for effective and immediate steps to control the resulting air pollution.

The push for cleaner fuel has proved contentious among bakery owners, many of whom have run wood-fired ovens for generations. They argue that switching fuels can be costly, difficult given the design of traditional dome-shaped ovens, and may even change the taste of the bread. Even so, the court has held that businesses do not have an unrestricted right to continue operating in a way that pollutes the air, and that this has to be weighed against the wider public's right to a clean environment.