Hyderabad: Aheadof the Diwali celebrations, the Telangana Food Safety Department has rung the warning bell for sweet lovers after food safety officers inspected popular sweet shops across the state and found violations of safety norms. During the raid, over 60 kg of sweets, 40 kg of bread, and other adulterated food products were seized.

To keep adulterated food products at bay during the festival, a team from the Food Safety Department raided sweet shops and outlets selling various sweets and other edible items. As part of this special drive, food safety officers conducted raids at a total of 95 sweet shops in the city and targeted sweet houses in other districts, finding major violations.

As part of statewide festive inspections, the teams conducted special drives across all 33 districts covering sweet manufacturing units and retailers. During the drive, as many as 77 enforcement samples and 157 surveillance samples were lifted and sent for lab analysis.

A senior officer at the Food Safety Department said, “In a drive, it was found that the units are using synthetic food colours in milk-based sweets like jalebi, laddus, and khoya items, and adulterated ghee and reused cooking oil were being used in sweet preparation. Moreover, non-food grade silver foils and poor hygiene were found in manufacturing units. Unlabelled and expired food products were found in retail outlets and were seized.”

During the raid, more than 60 kg of sweets, 40 kg of bread, and other adulterated food products were seized, and contaminated/colour-infused sweets were also discarded. Samples were taken and sent to the lab for immediate analysis, with results currently under process. The officers also issued improvement notices for unhygienic premises.

The Telangana State Food Safety Department advised consumers to exercise caution and ensure that food items, especially sweets, milk, and milk-based products, are safe, hygienic, and free from adulteration. Consumers were asked to purchase sweets and milk products only from licensed and hygienic outlets displaying valid FSSAI registration numbers, and to avoid sweets with excessively bright or unnatural colours or those covered with non-food-grade silver foil.

In case of suspected adulteration, consumers may report immediately through email: [email protected] and Helpdesk: 9100105795.