Pulla Reddy Sweets outlet loses licence as Telangana seizes 3,546 kg food

The Telangana Standards Authority for Food and Essential Drugs (TG SAFE) suspended the food licence of the Sanath Nagar outlet of G. Pulla Reddy Sweets in Hyderabad on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, during a one-day enforcement drive on sweet makers and sellers. Working with the police, 13 teams inspected 16 units in the CURE region around Hyderabad. The authority said five establishments were shut, five licences were suspended, and 3,546.5 kg of food worth Rs 16.86 lakh was seized or discarded, ten days before Diwali on November 8.

Sweets are at the centre of Diwali in Indian homes. Families buy boxes of laddoo, barfi and milk-based mithai for prayers, for guests and as gifts, and demand peaks in the fortnight before the festival. That is also the time when shops make large batches in advance, store them for days, and when the risk of stale, badly stored or adulterated products rises. Milk-based sweets such as khoya and paneer items spoil quickly if they are not kept cold and clean.

This drive is notable because it reached well-known names, not only small back-street units. According to the inspection findings reported by TG SAFE, officials found rat droppings, rotten vegetables, expired and wrongly labelled products, poor storage and unclean washing and production areas at some premises, and food handlers who did not follow basic hygiene. At Balaji Sweets in Champapet, officials said they found cockroaches, unclean utensils, poor storage and sweets covered with newspaper. At Mamatha Sweet House, they reported an expired licence, houseflies, dirty kitchen equipment, expired or spoiled food and no pest-control records. These are the authority's findings; the businesses' responses were not reported.

It is also the third such action in Telangana in about a week. On October 23, a drive in the same region seized 1,035 kg of food worth Rs 7.75 lakh and suspended three licences. On October 25, a statewide check lifted 38 samples from sweet shops across districts. The pattern matches what other states have done this season, as food safety departments step up checks on sweets, ghee, khoya and paneer before the festival.

Short-term: Buyers in Hyderabad may find some outlets closed in the busiest sweet-buying weeks of the year. The suspended and shut units cannot sell until TG SAFE is satisfied after reinspection. Results of the 22 samples will decide whether any case of adulteration follows.

Long-term: Repeated drives that name established brands raise the pressure on all sweet makers to keep valid licences in the right category, keep pest-control records and store stock properly. Regular checks, rather than only festive-season raids, would be the real test of whether hygiene improves.

Who is affected: Families buying Diwali sweets, the staff and owners of the inspected units, and the wider sweet trade in Hyderabad, which depends on festival sales and on customer trust.

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