Eight Hyderabad eateries including Biryani By Kilo and ITC Aashirwad Soul Creations had FSSAI licences suspended by TG SAFE after inspections found pests, rotten food, and hygiene failures.
TG SAFE (Telangana Standards Authority for Food and Essential Drugs) suspended the FSSAI licences of eight cloud kitchens and restaurants in Hyderabad on November 10, 2026, ordering all eight to immediately stop operations after inspections uncovered cockroach infestations, rat activity, expired food items, and contaminated ingredients.
The sweep involved 24 enforcement teams made up of food safety officers and Hyderabad City Police personnel. They inspected 23 cloud kitchens and restaurants across the city in a single day. Of those, eight had licences suspended outright, five received improvement notices and face reinspection, and ten received show-cause notices for hygiene violations.
What the inspectors found
The eight establishments whose licences were suspended are Biryani By Kilo in Gachibowli, Kulcha Kulture in Madhapur, Lucky Multicuisine Restaurant in Somajiguda, Tum Yum Innovisions in Madhapur, Zora 11 By 2 in Khairatabad, LO Fresh Foods in Madhapur, ITC Aashirwad Soul Creations in Gachibowli, and Sodexo India Services in Kondapur.
According to TG SAFE's findings as reported by The Hindu, inspectors documented pest-infested wheat flour, improper segregation of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food, rat infestation, dirty stoves, rotten potatoes, clogged drains, unclean kitchen floors, greasy chimneys, and milk leakage on storage racks. Officials collected 25 food samples on suspicion of adulteration and discarded approximately 700 kg of spoiled or contaminated food on site.
The names here carry weight. Biryani By Kilo is a well-known national chain. ITC Aashirwad Soul Creations operates under ITC Limited, one of India's largest conglomerates. Sodexo India Services is the Indian arm of the French facilities management company Sodexo. The presence of these corporate-backed operations on the suspension list signals that brand scale does not automatically translate to kitchen hygiene.
Five establishments received improvement notices and will be reinspected: AVA Cloud Kitchens in Lingampally, Harley's India in Pragathi Nagar, Hunger Experiment in Madhapur, Fruitique in Kompally, and Rebel Foods' Behrouz Biryani outlet in Khairatabad. Rebel Foods, the parent company behind Behrouz Biryani and several other virtual restaurant brands, also appears in the show-cause notice list through two additional outlets in Serilingampally and Shaikpet.
The ten establishments that received show-cause notices include Prism Hospitality Services in Miyapur, Ghar The Cloud Kitchen in Kokapet, Curefoods India (parent of EatFit and other brands) in Kompally, Scuzi Hospitality in Madhapur, Sri Kakatiya Deluxe Mess in Ameerpet, FA Gifts in Gachibowli, Elior India Food Services in Gopanpally, and Potful India in Madhapur. Further penalties may follow.
Why this matters for anyone ordering food in Hyderabad
Cloud kitchens operate without a dine-in floor, which means there is no front-of-house for a customer to walk through and form an impression of cleanliness. The kitchen is invisible by design. That makes regulatory inspection the only real check on hygiene, and this sweep shows the gap between what delivery apps present and what happens in the prep area.
Under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, FSSAI licences are mandatory for any food business with an annual turnover above Rs 12 lakh. Suspension means the business cannot legally operate until the licence is reinstated, which requires demonstrating compliance to the licensing authority. The Act also allows for prosecution and fines where adulteration is confirmed, though TG SAFE has not yet announced the results of the 25 samples collected.
For consumers who follow specific dietary practices, the improper storage of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items is a direct concern. Cross-contamination between meat and plant-based ingredients in the same cold storage or on the same prep surface undermines any claim a restaurant makes about serving vegetarian or Jain food. FSSAI's Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020 require clear green or brown dot labelling for veg and non-veg products, but labelling rules are meaningless if the separation does not exist in the kitchen.
What you can do before placing your next order
FSSAI maintains a public database called FoSCoS (Food Safety Compliance System) where you can search any food business by name or licence number and check whether its licence is active, suspended, or cancelled. It takes under a minute. If a restaurant's licence does not appear or shows as suspended, that is a concrete reason to avoid ordering from it regardless of its rating on a delivery platform.
Delivery apps are not required to remove suspended establishments from their listings in real time. Zomato and Swiggy both have stated policies about food safety compliance, but the enforcement lag is real. A restaurant suspended on Monday may still appear as available on Tuesday morning.
When you do order, look at the packaging for the FSSAI licence number, which must be printed on any packaged food item. For restaurant food delivered in sealed containers, the licence number should appear on the label or the bag. If it is absent, that is a violation of display regulations.
If you have already eaten at one of the eight suspended establishments recently and experience symptoms of food poisoning, you can file a complaint directly with TG SAFE or through the FSSAI consumer complaint portal. Documenting the order receipt, packaging, and date of purchase strengthens any complaint.
TG SAFE has not released a timeline for reinspection of the suspended establishments or announced when the adulteration sample results will be published. Until those results are public, the full picture of what was in the food remains incomplete.