Archive · 4 Sep 2026
Maharashtra FDA Announces Festival Food Safety Crackdown
Maharashtra’s food safety department is creating a special plan for festivals.
Inspectors will start checking food up to 21 days before a festival begins.
They will inspect places such as factories, markets, cold stores and warehouses.
During the festival, they will test food in markets and at places serving large meals.
The plan covers milk, meat, sweets, fasting foods, cooking oil, bakery products and other foods.
Oil with too many harmful compounds will be destroyed.
Inspectors will also check food served at events such as iftar, langar and bhandara.
The department says the plan is about food safety and is not aimed at any religion or community.
Officials reported that many samples tested between June and August 2026 did not meet required standards.
Maharashtra’s FDA will begin festival food-safety enforcement 21 days before celebrations and continue for up to 30 days.
Festivals will be classified as statewide, regional or local, with inspections beginning 14 days before events at production and distribution sites.
Eleven high-risk food categories, including dairy, meat, sweets, fasting foods, oil, water and imported food, will be examined.
Frying oil exceeding 25% total polar compounds will be destroyed, while unauthorised colours and adulterated silver leaf will trigger action.
From June to August 2026, the FDA collected 37,604 samples and tested 32,604, reporting widespread failures against prescribed standards.
- Who
- Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration, led by Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe.
- What
- A structured festival food-safety enforcement plan involving inspections, sampling, testing and prosecution.
- When
- Enforcement will start 21 days before each festival and last up to 30 days; reported intensified testing occurred from June to August 2026.
- Where
- Across Maharashtra, including manufacturing units, markets, food outlets, warehouses and festival meal-serving locations.
- Why
- To identify and control food-safety risks, adulteration and substandard food during festivals.
- Enforcement start
- Checks begin 21 days before a festival.
- Enforcement duration
- The drive can continue for up to 30 days.
- Festival tiers
- Statewide, regional and local festivals.
- High-risk categories
- Eleven categories, including dairy, meat, sweets, fasting foods, edible oil, water and ice, bakery, e-commerce and imported food.
- Frying oil limit
- Oil exceeding 25% total polar compounds will be destroyed.
- Samples collected
- 37,604 samples were collected between June and August 2026.
- Samples tested
- 32,604 samples were tested during the same period; 15,268 failed prescribed standards and 15,160 food samples were reported substandard.