Festive food checks: FSSAI suspends 1,133 licences, seizes 3,280 tonnes nationwide

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) seized about 3,280 tonnes of food worth roughly ₹81.8 crore and suspended 1,133 food business licences in a nationwide inspection drive ahead of the festival season. It cancelled 52 licences outright.

Inspectors checked 56,431 food establishments across States and Union Territories between 1 September and 5 November, the regulator said. They issued 10,047 improvement notices and sealed 312 establishments. Of 43,939 food samples collected, 2,273, about one in 20, did not meet food safety standards. Seized products included paneer, ghee, milk and sweets, the items most often adulterated when festival demand peaks.

Why it matters

Demand for milk products and sweets rises sharply between Navaratri and Diwali, and so does adulteration: khoa and paneer made with starch or vegetable fat, ghee mixed with cheaper oils, and sweets coloured with non-permitted dyes. State food safety departments run their own drives at the same time; this was the national regulator’s coordinated push.

How to buy safely

• Buy from shops that display an FSSAI licence or registration number.
• Check the “best before” date, which sweet shops must display even for loose sweets.
• Report suspect food through FSSAI’s Food Safety Connect app or your State’s food safety office.