Karnataka’s Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) Department has temporarily shut six sweet shops including Bikaner Sweets on Magadi Road in Bengaluru, Maharaja Sweets in Kalaburagi and Swagath Sweets in Mangaluru during a statewide inspection drive over food safety violations. Officials also seized large quantities of expired, improperly labelled and suspected non-conforming food products from several establishments.
The inspections were conducted on Monday, August 31, across Bengaluru Urban and Rural, the Greater Bengaluru Authority area, Mysuru, Dakshina Kannada, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Hubballi-Dharwad, following directions from Health and Family Welfare Minister UT Khader.
Bikaner Sweets was temporarily closed after officials found unhygienic conditions and labelling deficiencies. Maharaja Sweets in Kalaburagi and Swagath Sweets in Mangaluru were also shut over food safety violations. Swagath Sweets was found to be operating without the required food licence, besides violations related to hygiene and labelling.
Among the major seizures, officials at Balaji Milk Khova in Bengaluru seized 400 kg of khova products, including 150 kg of kalakand khova and 250 kg of khova, valued at around Rs 77,500. The products lacked several mandatory label declarations, while the unit was also found to have unhygienic conditions.
At Word of Mysore Pack in Mysuru, officials seized 367 kg of ready-to-eat savouries, 4 kg of cocoa powder, 4.5 kg of cracked cocoa beans and 6 kg of khova, with the products valued at around Rs 1.56 lakh.
At Asha Sweets in Yeshwanthpur, around 49 kg of tea powder, 20 kg of khova or kalakand and 2.5 kg of pistachios were seized over suspected violations. Samples were collected for further action.
At Lal Sweets Pvt Ltd, around 60 kg of products, including banana chips and chakli masala, were seized for not carrying mandatory declarations. Officials also found fly infestation and unhygienic conditions at the unit.
At Mithai Factory in Bengaluru, officials seized 14 packets of incorrectly labelled chikki, five litres of expired Nandini curd and 19 packets of improperly labelled chocolate decoration materials.
In Belagavi, around 10 kg of expired chocolate flavouring was seized from A1 Purohit, while 5 kg of rasgulla was disposed of as per prescribed procedures.
At Sandesh Sweets in Bengaluru, four food samples suspected to be non-conforming were collected and sent to a government laboratory for analysis.
Officials also inspected Triveni Bakery and Mita Bharat in Hubballi, Kalyani Sweets and A1 Kunda in Belagavi, India Sweets and Venkateshwara Sweets in Bengaluru and Popular Bakery in Puttur. Notices were issued to several establishments over hygiene and other food safety violations.
According to the FSDA, officials found expired food products, misleading or incomplete labels, unhygienic manufacturing and storage conditions, fly infestation and unauthorised artificial colours at several units. Some packaged products also lacked mandatory details, including the manufacturer’s name and address, batch number, date of manufacture, use-by date, maximum retail price and FSSAI licence or registration number.
The inspections were conducted under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Rules, 2011. Samples collected during the drive, including sweets, khova, jalebi, Mysore Pak, mixture, pulses, cooking oil and fresh oil, will be tested at government laboratories.
FSDA Commissioner K Srinivas said legal action would be taken against food business operators found violating food safety laws and regulations.
The department said similar inspections would continue across Karnataka, with a focus on expired products, misbranding, inadequate labelling, unhygienic manufacturing conditions and other violations that could pose a risk to public health.