Tukaram Mundhe’s food-safety drive draws attention across India

Tukaram Mundhe, Maharashtra’s food and drug regulator, has drawn national attention as videos of food-safety inspections circulate online. The attention matters beyond one official: the enforcement drive has brought thousands of complaints to an agency that says it lacks enough staff to inspect the state’s vast food sector.

Mundhe took charge of the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration in May. BBC News reports that his teams have found pest infestations, poor hygiene and expired food during inspections of restaurants and other businesses. It says he has also drawn attention to gaps between what hospitals pay for common medical supplies and what patients are charged.

What the enforcement figures show

India Today reported on 17 September, citing FDA data, that the agency carried out more than 12,000 inspections from June through the end of August. These included 1,803 inspections of hotels, restaurants and clubs, and 9,485 in the milk and dairy sector. The counts describe inspections conducted, rather than the number of businesses found to have broken rules.

In hotels, restaurants and clubs, the FDA issued 948 improvement notices and suspended 199 licences, according to the figures reported by India Today. In the milk and dairy sector, it issued 4,321 notices, tested 2,766 samples and suspended 404 licences. A notice and a suspension are different regulatory actions; the figures should not be read as a single count of closures.

Complaints have risen sharply. India Today said the FDA received 9,764 through its portal and toll-free helpline between 1 June and 31 August, compared with 1,453 during the whole previous financial year. By the end of August, the agency had disposed of 6,109 of the newer complaints, leaving 3,655 pending. The periods differ in length, so the comparison shows reported volume rather than a like-for-like annual trend.

Attention and objections

The BBC reports that inspection videos and images have made Mundhe a social-media figure, with some commenters calling for officers like him to address food-safety concerns in their own states. Its account does not establish how representative those comments are. Retired civil servant Kamal Kant Jaswal told the BBC: ‘What should have been normal has become exceptional.’ He linked that reaction to familiar delays and bureaucratic hurdles.

The attention has also brought criticism from parts of the food and hospitality industry. The BBC reports that Mundhe rejected allegations of selective or unlawful action, saying inspections were driven by evidence and licences were suspended only in serious cases. His response sets out the regulator’s position; it does not resolve every objection raised by affected businesses.

In an August interview with The Week, Mundhe denied targeting only prominent businesses. He said officials considered complaints, information, surveys and analysis, and had acted against street-food sellers, restaurants, dairies, grocery owners and chains. He described the FDA’s task as enforcing existing rules, with responses ranging from time to improve to licence suspension.

The limits on inspection

Mundhe told The Week that Maharashtra had more than one million food-sector registrations or licences. Against that scale, he said, the enforcement actions remained limited. He estimated that the agency needed about 900 food-safety officers, while its sanctioned strength was around 350. That gap, he said, prevented officials from checking every establishment they were expected to inspect.

India Today reported approximately 1.25 million registered food-business licences statewide and around 350 food-safety officials. It said Mumbai had roughly 100,000 licensees and 45 officers, and that recruitment of another 700 inspectors had been proposed. Those are reported staffing and proposal figures, not evidence that the additional posts have been filled.

A senior FDA official told India Today that an inspection with sample collection could take three to four hours. The official said Mumbai received about 50 complaints a day, of which roughly 20 might be actionable, and cautioned that some submissions could be frivolous. The growing complaint count therefore adds work for an agency already describing a shortage of inspectors.

Mundhe told The Week that the FDA’s complaints portal assigns and escalates cases and tracks their progress. He said submissions increased after its launch. The August backlog reported by India Today shows the immediate challenge: receiving complaints is only one step; the agency must assess them, investigate those that warrant action and follow through on any findings.

The reported inspections, notices and suspensions establish a substantial period of regulatory activity. They do not yet establish a lasting improvement in food-safety conditions across Maharashtra. For residents and businesses, the open question is how consistently an understaffed agency can respond to complaints and check compliance across the much larger number of licensed establishments.