To protect its culinary heritage, the city needs stronger food safety checks in hotels and eateries, reports Sunny Baski. With rising concerns around food safety following a string of incidents involving adulterated and spoiled products in recent days, regulatory enforcement in Hyderabad appears to be falling short — even as the city’s food industry is valued at over Rs 10,000 crore annually.
Inspection Coverage and Violations
In 2025, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) conducted only 9,656 inspections across the city. However, this covers less than one-fifth of Hyderabad’s approximately 75,000 eateries. Even more striking is that only 3,500 food samples were collected during these inspections. Of these, just 65 violations were identified — less than 2%, while about 40% of the sampled establishments were issued simple improvement notices rather than stricter action.
Statewide Data Highlights Weak Enforcement
The situation becomes more concerning when looking at statewide data. Across Telangana, only one food business licence was cancelled during the 2024–25 period. According to figures presented in the Rajya Sabha by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), 125 food safety violation cases were resolved with penalties, yet none resulted in convictions.
“Enforcement efforts have also declined steadily in recent years. Sample analysis dropped from over 6,100 in 2023–24 and 4,800 in 2022–23 to just 3,347 in 2024–25 across Telangana,” an official from the food safety wing of GHMC said.
Manpower and Testing Capacity Constraints
Even as both the city and the state face a severe manpower crunch that limits intensified inspections, there is just one shared food testing laboratory in Nacharam serving both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, putting significant strain on testing capacity. On top of that, the penalties prescribed under current rules remain low — up to Rs 5 lakh even for providing substandard food — which weakens deterrence and allows many establishments to take a relaxed approach toward complying with food safety norms, GHMC officials said.
Processed Food Concerns
The issue isn’t limited to restaurants and hotels. Processed foods show similar problems. According to MoHFW data, nearly 10% of processed food samples were found adulterated. During 2025–26, out of 2,315 samples tested, around 218 failed to meet food safety standards.
Staff Shortage Impacts Enforcement
Officials attribute weak enforcement partly to staff shortages across the food safety system. Hyderabad has about 25,000 licensed eateries and nearly 50,000 establishments operating in the unorganised sector, but fewer than 20 food safety officers are currently available to monitor them. With the city’s jurisdiction expanding significantly in recent years, officials said the shortage has affected the frequency and depth of inspections. They noted that strengthening staffing levels and testing capacity would be essential to improving enforcement coverage across the city.
Health Toll of Adulteration
Health experts say food adulteration is a serious public health issue that often occurs due to cost-cutting practices, poor hygiene, and lack of proper food safety training in hotels and restaurants. In busy commercial kitchens, lapses in temperature control, personal hygiene and cleaning protocols can quickly turn food unsafe for consumption, they said.
“Long-term exposure to certain adulterants can increase cancer risk due to carcinogenic substances present in contaminated food. Adulterants can also trigger allergic reactions. Moreover, prolonged consumption of such food can harm organs like the kidneys, liver and heart,” said Deepa Agarwal, founder and nutritionist at Nutriclinic.
Civic health data reflects these risks. In 2025, the city recorded over 8,000 cases of acute gastroenteritis, often linked to contaminated food and water. There were also at least three deaths and hundreds of hospitalisations tied to food poisoning incidents.
“I had acidity and a severe stomachache recently after eating outside, and since then I’ve been very cautious,” said S. Niharika, an IT professional from Madhapur.
