The UP sweet shop crackdown has led the Food Safety and Drug Administration to suspend 27 licences after inspections at 1,133 locations linked to the production, storage and sale of sweets across Uttar Pradesh. Officials also seized about 54 quintals of food items valued at an estimated Rs 1.32 crore during the statewide drive.
The inspections were conducted on Tuesday by teams examining sweet shops, manufacturing units and storage facilities. According to the department spokesperson cited in the report, 32 mobile food squads carried out special inspections in Bareilly and Moradabad, while separate teams checked 98 establishments in Kasganj, Etawah, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Kushinagar and Shahjahanpur.
The enforcement action included 78 improvement notices issued to establishments found with deficiencies. Licences of five units were suspended during inspections in the districts covered by the separate teams, while one establishment operating without a licence was shut down, officials said.
Inspectors reported serious hygiene and food-safety lapses at several locations. In Bareilly, one manufacturing unit was found in extremely unhygienic conditions, with a toilet located next to a furnace. Officials also reported a broken floor and accumulated dirty water at the premises.
Another Bareilly shop was found to be storing and preparing old and mouldy sweets, according to the inspection findings. The reported conditions point to lapses not only in the sale of finished products but also in the environments where sweets are prepared and stored before reaching consumers.
In Moradabad, officials said a sweet shop was using expired material and had rat droppings and inedible colours on its premises. A separate unit was found operating without a licence and had a rodent infestation, the department said.
The action places food-safety licensing and inspection at the centre of a wider public-health enforcement exercise. The 1,133 inspections covered multiple stages of the supply chain, from production and storage to retail sale, allowing authorities to identify violations in both formal and unlicensed establishments.
The seizures, notices and licence suspensions also indicate different levels of regulatory response. Improvement notices were issued to establishments requiring corrective measures, while more serious cases resulted in licence suspensions or closure. The department has not provided, in the supplied report, a district-wise breakup of all 27 suspended licences or details of the next compliance deadlines for the affected units.
The inspections were carried out by the Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration through its field teams. Further action will depend on the compliance process and the department’s assessment of establishments that received notices or faced licence suspension.
