TG SAFE raids 53 sweet shops across Telangana, finds cockroaches, fungal contamination
Synopsis
With the festive season at its peak, Telangana's food safety regulator swept through 53 sweet shops across 21 districts in a single day — finding cockroach infestations, fungal contamination in pickles, and food stored on dirty floors. Three Hyderabad outlets have already lost their licences, and over ₹7.75 lakh worth of food has been seized, signalling that TG SAFE is moving well beyond routine city-level enforcement.
Key Takeaways
TG SAFE inspected 53 sweet manufacturing and retail units across 21 districts of Telangana on 24 October 2025 .
38 samples were collected on suspicion of adulteration; improvement notices issued to 20 establishments .
Violations included cockroach infestation, fungal contamination in pickles, drains clogged with food waste, and food handlers without hairnets or gloves.
A show cause notice will be issued to one establishment , with penalties to follow after reinspection.
In a separate earlier action, three Hyderabad sweet shops lost their licences ; 1,035 kg of food articles worth ₹7,75,850 were seized from the Hyderabad inspections.
Telangana Standards Authority for Food and Essential Drugs (TG SAFE) conducted a special enforcement drive across 53 sweet manufacturing and retail units spread over 21 districts of Telangana on 24 October 2025, uncovering widespread hygiene violations and food safety lapses. The sweep, which included both urban and rural establishments, resulted in 38 samples being collected on suspicion of adulteration and improvement notices being issued to 20 establishments.
Key Violations Found
Food Safety Officers documented a range of serious infractions during the district-wide inspections. Officials found damaged flooring littered with food waste, unclean washing areas, and drains clogged with food waste. Walls were visibly marked with dirt, dust, and food spillage.
Food handlers were found working without hairnets or gloves, and many establishments lacked mandatory records such as pest control logs and health records for staff. Inspectors also noted greasy exhausts and chimneys, along with improper storage practices — including food articles stored directly on the floor and non-food items kept alongside food products.
Districts Covered in the Drive
The inspections spanned Mancherial, Jangaon, Siddipet, Khammam, Narayanpet, Jogulamba Gadwal, Wanaparthy, Nalgonda, Suryapet, Peddapalli, Kamareddy, Nagarkurnool, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Hanumakonda, Medak, Warangal, Rajanna Sircilla, Jagtiyal, Mahabubnagar, and Kothagudem. The breadth of the exercise signals that TG SAFE is moving beyond its traditional focus on Hyderabad's urban core to enforce standards across the state.
Action Taken
According to the TG SAFE Commissioner's statement, improvement notices will be served on 20 establishments directing them to rectify identified lapses. A show cause notice will be issued to one establishment, with penalties to follow based on reinspection findings. All flagged units will be revisited to verify compliance before further regulatory action is determined.
Hyderabad Shops Shut Down Earlier
This district-wide sweep follows a separate raid last week in which three sweet shops in Hyderabad lost their licences after TG SAFE enforcement teams — comprising food safety officers and police personnel — inspected 21 khoa and sweet manufacturing and retail units in the core urban region.
Those inspections revealed cobwebs, cockroach infestation, storage pests in food articles, and fungal contamination in pickles. Food handlers at some of those units were found with overgrown nails, indicating a breakdown in basic personal hygiene protocols. Officials seized 1,035 kg of food articles valued at ₹7,75,850 and collected 21 samples on suspicion of adulteration from those establishments alone.
With festive season demand for sweets at its peak, TG SAFE's multi-district crackdown is likely to continue in the weeks ahead, with reinspection results expected to determine the scale of penalties imposed.
Point of View
And how rarely are they caught? The breadth of the sweep, spanning 21 districts in a single day, suggests systemic non-compliance rather than isolated lapses, which points to a regulatory enforcement deficit that predates any single inspection cycle. TG SAFE's decision to issue improvement notices to 20 units while pursuing stronger action on only one also warrants scrutiny — given the severity of violations like cockroach infestation and fungal contamination, the threshold for licence cancellation should be clearer and more consistently applied. Without a publicly accessible compliance database, consumers have no way to verify whether the sweet shop they patronise has a clean record.
NationPress
25 Oct 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What did TG SAFE find during its Telangana sweet shop inspections?
TG SAFE found widespread hygiene and food safety violations including cockroach infestation, fungal contamination in pickles, food stored on dirty floors, drains clogged with food waste, and food handlers working without hairnets or gloves. The inspections covered 53 units across 21 districts on 24 October 2025.
How many sweet shops were inspected and what action was taken?
53 sweet manufacturing and retail units were inspected across 21 Telangana districts. Improvement notices will be issued to 20 establishments, a show cause notice to one, and all flagged units will be revisited to verify compliance before further penalties are imposed.
Which Hyderabad sweet shops lost their licences?
Three sweet shops in Hyderabad lost their licences following a separate TG SAFE raid the previous week. The establishments were found with cockroach infestation, storage pests, cobwebs, greasy exhausts, and food handlers with poor personal hygiene.
Were any food samples taken for adulteration testing?
Yes. A total of 38 samples were collected across the 21-district drive on suspicion of adulteration. An additional 21 samples were collected during the earlier Hyderabad inspections, along with a seizure of 1,035 kg of food articles worth ₹7,75,850.
Why is this inspection significant during the festive season?
Demand for sweets rises sharply during the festive period, increasing consumer exposure to food safety risks. Regulators and public health experts note that sub-standard hygiene practices at sweet manufacturing units can lead to food-borne illness, making timely enforcement especially critical at this time of year.
