Finger Found in Butterscotch Ice Cream Came from 24-Year-Old Pune Factory Employee

• DNA match confirms the finger fragment came from 24-year-old Omkar Pote, a machine operator at Fortune Dairy in Indapur.
• Blood tests clear any infectious disease risk to consumers who ate from the same contaminated batch.
• FSSAI suspends the manufacturer’s license; police trace supply chain and prepare notices for negligence.

MUMBAI — A seemingly ordinary afternoon treat turned into a nightmare for a Malad West doctor when he bit into something unmistakably human inside his Yummo butterscotch ice cream cone.

What began as a routine online order quickly spiraled into a full-scale investigation involving forensic labs, supply-chain tracing, and revelations about food contamination at a major Pune factory.

On June 12, 26-year-old Dr. Brandon Serrao was enjoying the cone his sister had ordered via Zepto when he felt an odd texture.

He spat it out — and stared at a roughly two-centimetre piece of flesh complete with a broken fingernail.

Shocked, he immediately alerted Malad police, triggering one of the most bizarre food safety violation cases in recent memory.

Investigators wasted no time. They registered an FIR against unidentified Yummo officials under IPC Sections 272 (adulteration of food), 273 (sale of noxious food or drink), and 336 (rash act endangering life).

The severed digit was rushed to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Kalina for analysis. Meanwhile, officers began reverse-engineering the product’s journey.

Using batch codes printed on the packaging, police mapped the supply route: the cone originated at Fortune Dairy Industries Pvt Ltd in Indapur, Pune — a third-party facility producing ice creams for the Yummo brand — then moved through warehouses in Hadapsar, Sakinaka, and Bhiwandi before reaching a Malad distributor. Every step narrowed the focus to a single production run in mid-May.

Back in Indapur, a police team visited the factory and learned of an unreported workplace accident.

On May 11, 24-year-old Omkar Pote, a fruit feeder machine operator, had sliced off the tip of his right finger while operating a dry-fruit feeder (also described as a scotch-crushing machine).

The injury was not life-threatening; Pote received treatment at a private clinic, informed his supervisors, and returned to work. The factory continued operations without discarding the affected batch — a decision now under intense scrutiny.

Malad police collected Pote’s DNA and blood samples and sent them to Kalina.

The blood work was critical: authorities needed to know whether Pote carried any infectious disease that could have contaminated hundreds of cones packed that day. The wait for results kept the entire investigation — and the public — on edge.

Then, on June 27, the Kalina lab delivered its verdict. The DNA fingerprinting report showed a perfect match between the finger fragment and Omkar Pote.

Blood tests confirmed he was free of any major infectious disease, removing immediate health risks for consumers who might have eaten from the same batch.

“It is negligence on the part of the employee and the supervisors at the factory that they let the contaminated ice cream batch be packed and shipped to consumers,” said senior police inspector Ravi Adane of Malad police station.

He added that notices under CrPC Section 41 would be issued, as the invoked IPC sections carry a maximum punishment of less than seven years.

The revelations triggered swift regulatory action. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued a stop-work notice to the Fortune Dairy unit and later suspended the manufacturer’s license pending further probes.

Yummo’s parent company, Walko Food Co Ltd, issued a statement saying it had immediately halted production at the third-party facility, isolated all suspect stock in warehouses, and begun retrieving products from the market.

Here are the key facts at a glance:

As the story unfolded, questions multiplied. How many cones from that May 11 run had already been sold?

How many consumers unknowingly bit into something they would never forget? And why did supervisors allow production to continue after a clearly visible injury?

Yummo emphasised it was treating the matter “very seriously” and cooperating fully with authorities.

Yet the company’s own statement acknowledged the third-party nature of the facility — raising fresh questions about oversight in outsourced manufacturing, a common practice in India’s booming ice cream industry.

Police are now preparing to question Pote, his immediate supervisor, and other officials about why the batch was not quarantined.

Senior officers, including Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 11) Anand Bhoite, have stressed that discarding the entire run after the accident was the bare minimum expected under basic food safety protocols.

Meanwhile, the finger fragment itself — now confirmed as Pote’s — remains in police custody as evidence.

The doctor who found it has spoken publicly about the trauma, describing the moment he realised what he was holding.

His complaint has already sparked wider conversations about consumer protection in ready-to-eat frozen desserts.

With notices imminent and market-wide retrieval efforts underway, the case has exposed cracks in everything from workplace safety reporting to third-party manufacturing accountability.

What began as one man’s horrifying bite into his dessert has now become a cautionary tale for an entire industry — and the final chapter is still being written.

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