Hyderabad: Over the past month, city residents have been confronted with disturbing visuals of the unhygienic conditions under which their everyday pantry staples are prepared, as police crack down on manufacturing units and seize thousands of kilograms of adulterated food.
Used tea powder mixed into fresh batches, excess preservatives in ginger garlic paste, missing ingredients and “best before” labels on bakery products, the complaints flooding the Hyderabad Police have been as varied as they have been alarming.
Beyond adulteration, the unorganised sector appears broadly indifferent to basic compliance. Pest control records, medical certificates for workers and the mandatory licences that govern food manufacturing units are, for many of such establishment, entirely optional.
It was against this backdrop that the Hyderabad Food Adulteration Surveillance Team (H-FAST) was formed on March 19 this year.
The unit’s daily exposures have been met with public approval, but a question still lingers. What actually happens to offenders and their units after a police raid?
In multiple instances, it has emerged that those caught do not face jail time and are released after producing a surety from the court. This raises a harder question: is the current enforcement enough to stop the same people from doing it again?
Deputy Commissioner of Police Vaibhav Raghunath Gaikwad, who heads H-FAST, in an interview with Siasat.com, said the approach is to drive change gradually through awareness.
Not all are aware of safe practices: H-FAST DCP
“We are not looking to close businesses. Our main aim is to create awareness among buyers and sellers alike as to what constitutes food-safe practices. Among the offenders, there are also people who are genuinely unaware of standard practices. Farmers, for instance, sometimes produce paneer and other dairy items at home and sell them in the city. They may have been doing it for years and might not understand the importance of labels and licences. We are trying to bring them up to speed so they can continue their business the right way,” the DCP said.
He assured that repeat offenders will face strict action, but said a blanket approach cannot apply to every case. “Revoking licences, shutting shops and invoking the Preventive Detention Act are all options available to us for repeat offenders, but these will be used on a case-by-case basis, depending on the severity of the violation,” he said.
Efforts to educate vendors and consumers are also underway.
“We recently held a workshop with mango traders explaining how many packets of ripening agents are safe per 10 kg of fruit. In another session, people were shown how to spot adulteration in everyday food items. We will continue such initiatives through our social media handles to reach as many people as possible,” he said.
‘Not going to handle petty complaints’
When asked whether brand name outlets, such as Pista House or Blinkit dark stores, would be subject to similar raids, the officer was clear that H-FAST is not in the business of handling “petty complaints.” The unit’s focus, he told Siasat.com, is on dismantling the supply chain.
“We do receive complaints through our helpline about cockroaches in food, but that is not our purview. We are not targeting restaurants, big or small. Our focus is to solve the problem at the source. As for dark stores selling groceries, we will certainly look into it if a complaint comes in,” the DCP said.
Though formally inaugurated on March 19, H-FAST had already begun operations on February 1. Since then, the unit has conducted over 100 raids, arrested around 64 people and seized close to 76 tonne of food, Inspector Ranjith Kumar Goud informed Siasat.com.
Cracking down beyond Hyderabad
For now, the unit’s jurisdiction is limited to the Hyderabad Police Commissionerate. However, that may be about to change.
On March 30, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy announced plans to establish a dedicated mechanism to check food adulteration, modelled on the lines of the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) and the Elite Action Group for Drug Law Enforcement (EAGLE), potentially extending the crackdown across all of Telangana.
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