Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration suspended 326 food-business licences and seized stock worth Rs 44.37 crore during inspections conducted ahead of Diwali, with Mumbai accounting for 76 suspended licences and goods worth Rs 1.01 crore seized.
The inspections were held across the state between October 15 and November 3, the FDA said. Teams visited 3,332 food establishments, issued 1,501 improvement notices and cancelled 15 licences. The drive covered businesses across the food supply chain, from production facilities and retailers to street vendors, caterers and digital delivery platforms.
In Mumbai, FDA teams inspected 1,037 establishments and issued 583 improvement notices, according to the figures released by the department. They collected 438 food samples and seized 28.745 metric tonnes of stock valued at Rs 1.01 crore. The report also records four improvement notices served in the city, although this figure is not explained separately in the supplied details.
Across Maharashtra, inspectors collected 3,864 food samples and seized 1,886.44 metric tonnes of stock. The inspections checked kitchen cleanliness, cold-chain storage, storage temperatures and the validity of FSSAI licences, the FDA said.
The department identified khava, milk, paneer and ghee as products particularly prone to adulteration during the festive season. Officials also checked for the illegal reuse of fried oil, artificial ripening of fruits using substances such as calcium carbide, and the use of aluminium in place of edible silver leaf on sweets.
Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said consumers could check edible silver by rubbing it between their fingertips. “One way to check for adulteration in edible silver is if it creates a foil when rubbed on fingertips,” he said.
Mundhe also said the FDA had sent a team to Amravati to examine samples from a sweet shop that claimed to sell gold-plated sweets at Rs 24,000 per kg. He said the product would be permitted if the claim was genuine, while the establishment could face suspension if it was not.
The commissioner urged consumers to avoid sweets with unnaturally bright colours and advised them not to eat products that smell sour, feel sticky or show signs of fungus. The inspection drive’s focus on both physical establishments and digital delivery platforms reflects the increasingly distributed nature of urban food supply, where production, storage, retail and delivery can involve separate operators.
The FDA’s next steps will depend on laboratory testing of collected samples and action against establishments found to have violated food-safety requirements.
