Hyderabad sweet shop checks: TG SAFE seizes 1,035 kg, suspends three licences

Telangana's food safety authority, TG SAFE, inspected 21 sweet-making and sweet-selling units in and around Hyderabad on Friday, 23 October 2026, as demand for festive sweets builds before Diwali. Eleven teams of food safety officers and police seized 1,035 kg of food worth about Rs 7.75 lakh and took 21 samples for laboratory tests on suspicion of adulteration. The authority suspended the licences of three establishments and issued show-cause notices to others.

Sweets made with khoya, milk, ghee and sugar are at the centre of Indian festive eating, and demand for them peaks in the weeks before Diwali. That rush is also when food safety regulators across the country step up checks, because larger batches, longer storage and pressure to keep prices low increase the risk of poor hygiene and adulteration. Adulteration means adding a cheaper or unsafe substance to food, or selling food that is spoiled, while presenting it as genuine.

The Hyderabad findings show two different kinds of problem. Some were about hygiene in the kitchen: pests, dirty storage and unclean preparation areas. Others were about the food itself: fungus on pickles, insect-infested peanuts and sweets past their use-by date being kept for sale. Both kinds can make people ill, and both are covered by the national food safety rules that state authorities enforce.

The licence issue also matters for buyers. Under the national system run by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), every food business must be registered or licensed. TG SAFE said some of the units it checked were working without a licence or with one that had expired. A suspended licence means the business must stop operating until the authority is satisfied that the problems have been fixed.

This was the second large festive drive in Hyderabad in just over a week. On 15 October, the authority said it had discarded about 2,480 kg of sweets and dairy products and suspended three licences after inspectors reported flies, rodents, stagnant water, damaged floors and poor storage. The repeat drive suggests the authority expects problems to continue as the festival approaches.

Short-term: The suspended units must stay shut until TG SAFE allows them to reopen. Laboratory results on the 21 samples will show whether any of the seized food was adulterated, which could lead to prosecution under the food safety law. The authority said enforcement would continue.

Long-term: Repeated festive drives put pressure on sweet makers to keep licences current, store food properly and label it clearly. Similar checks are under way in other states before Diwali, which may push the trade towards better kitchen hygiene and record-keeping.

Who is affected: Families in Hyderabad buying sweets for Diwali, sweet shops and small manufacturers that supply them, and food safety officers who carry out the checks.

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