Uttar Pradesh’s Food Safety and Drug Administration inspected 1,133 locations linked to the production, storage and sale of sweets in a statewide crackdown, suspending 27 establishment licences and seizing food items estimated to be worth Rs 1.32 crore, according to officials cited by the Times of India.
The inspections covered sweet manufacturers, storage facilities and retail outlets. Officials said teams seized about 54 quintals of food products during the drive, which identified hygiene and food-safety lapses at several establishments.
The enforcement action included 32 mobile food squads operating in Bareilly and Moradabad. Separate teams inspected 98 establishments across Kasganj, Etawah, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Kushinagar and Shahjahanpur. The inspections were conducted as part of a special statewide exercise by the UP Food Safety and Drug Administration.
Besides the 27 licence suspensions, officials issued improvement notices to 78 establishments. Five units had their licences suspended during the inspections, while one unit operating without a licence was shut down, the report said. The figures indicate that the drive involved both immediate enforcement and directions to businesses to address identified deficiencies.
Officials reported serious sanitation problems at some locations. In Bareilly, inspectors found what they described as extreme filth at a manufacturing unit where a toilet was located next to a furnace. The same facility reportedly had a broken floor and accumulated dirty water, conditions that officials identified as serious hygiene concerns.
Another Bareilly shop was found allegedly storing and preparing old and mouldy sweets in unhygienic conditions. In Moradabad, officials said one sweet shop was using expired material and had rat droppings and inedible colours on the premises. A separate unit in the district was found operating without a licence and had a rodent infestation.
The action places licensing and inspection capacity at the centre of food safety enforcement in a sector that combines manufacturing, storage and retail operations. The locations inspected included both established businesses and at least one unlicensed unit, showing that compliance checks extended beyond the validity of licences to the conditions in which food was prepared and stored.
The FSDA’s reported findings also show how food-safety risks can emerge from basic facility conditions, including drainage, flooring, pest control, storage practices and the separation of sanitation areas from production spaces. The department has not indicated in the supplied report how many establishments will face further prosecution or when follow-up inspections will be completed.
The latest drive will now move into the compliance stage for establishments that received improvement notices or had their licences suspended. Further action will depend on inspections, corrective measures and proceedings by the Food Safety and Drug Administration under the applicable food-safety rules.
