Hyderabad: Diwali is not just a festival of lights, it’s also a time for good food and feasts.
In a drive for food safety in this festive season, authorities in Telangana carried out an extensive statewide exercise to inspect sweet-manufacturing units and retail outlets.
The inspections by the state’s Food Safety teams revealed widespread hygiene lapses and adulteration issues.
The crackdown, covering 95 sweet units across all 33 districts of the southern state, found rampant use of banned ingredients, poor sanitation and sale of expired products.
Among the most significant critical violations detected by the enforcement was the use of synthetic food colours in milk-based sweets like jalebi, laddus and khoya items — a direct violation of food safety norms.
On finding the stocking and sale of unlabelled and expired food products, authorities seized over 60 kg of sweets, 40 kg of bread, and other adulterated food items.
The teams collected 77 enforcement samples and 157 surveillance samples, all of which have been sent to the Food Testing Laboratory (FTL) for detailed analysis.
#FoodSafetyTelangana #Diwali2025 Food Safety Drive across Telangana
As part of statewide festive inspections, teams conducted special #FoodSafety drives across all 33 districts covering sweet manufacturing units and retailers.
· 95 sweet units were inspected statewide.
· 77… pic.twitter.com/pKfcXPgZYR— Commissioner of Food Safety, Telangana (@cfs_telangana) October 18, 2025
Spot testing was conducted wherever Food Safety on Wheels vehicles were available.
Following the crackdown, the authorities issued an advisory for consumers urging caution during the festive season, especially when purchasing sweets, milk and milk-based products.
Consumers have been specifically advised to buy items only from licensed and hygienic outlets displaying a valid FSSAI registration number. Also, they should avoid sweets with excessively bright or unnatural colours or those covered with non-food-grade silver foil, insist on proper packaging, and always check the Date of Manufacture and Best Before date.
