Punjab, Sept. 28 -- Navratri starts on 11 October and millions of people will switch to kuttu atta for nine days. In September last year, around 200 people in north-west Delhi fell ill after eating it. That was not a freak event, and it is close to an annual one.
Why this flour in particular
Ground buckwheat has a shelf life of barely three months.
That is the entire problem in one number. Kuttu atta sells in a nine-day window twice a year and is worthless the rest of the time, so retailers sit on stock that expires long before the next Navratri - and some of them mix stale flour into fresh batches rather than write it off.
Rancid buckwheat flour causes vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea within hours. Outbreaks have hit 200 people i...