FSSAI cracks down on adulterated pheni ahead of Dasara: 1,950 kg seized, 5 licences suspended in Hyderabad

TG SAFE, the Telangana Standards Authority for Food and Essential Drugs, seized 1,950 kg of pheni worth Rs 2.30 lakh from manufacturing and retail establishments across Hyderabad on October 8, 2026, suspending the FSSAI licences of five businesses and ordering an unlicensed unit in Jiyaguda to stop operations immediately.

Pheni is a fine, vermicelli-like sweet made from refined wheat flour and ghee or oil, traditionally prepared for Dasara, Diwali, and Eid. It is sold in large volumes during the festive window between October and November, which is exactly why adulteration and hygiene violations tend to spike during this period. TG SAFE deployed 12 enforcement teams, each comprising Food Safety Officers and police personnel, to inspect 12 units across Attapur, Jiyaguda, Charminar, Begum Bazar, Moosarambagh, and Badangpet. The authority lifted 12 samples for laboratory testing to confirm suspected adulteration.

What the inspections found

The violations documented during the drive go well beyond a labelling technicality. Inspectors found establishments running manufacturing operations under retail-category FSSAI licences, which is a category mismatch that allows businesses to sidestep the stricter hygiene and process standards that manufacturing licences require. Several units had food handlers working without hairnets and in half-sleeved clothing, both of which violate Schedule 4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011.

More concerning were the sanitation conditions. Inspectors found food articles stored directly on floors without covering, no pest-control records, no health records for food handlers, and active housefly infestations. At multiple establishments, gutka and pan masala spitting stains were visible on walls and floors. Packets of gutka and pan masala were found mixed in with food articles and discarded on the spot by the teams.

Anjani Foods and Peni Works, located at Bharath Nagar in Jiyaguda, was operating without any FSSAI licence at all. The unit was ordered to cease business immediately. Six other establishments received show-cause notices, with financial penalties proposed as the next step. Five units had their FSSAI licences suspended outright.

The authority has not yet published the full list of suspended licence numbers or the names of all five affected businesses. The Hindu's report names Anjani Foods and Peni Works as the unlicensed unit but does not identify the five whose licences were suspended. Clean Label Guide will update this article when TG SAFE releases that information.

Why this matters for festive food buyers

Pheni sold during Dasara and Diwali is almost always purchased loose, from local sweet shops or small manufacturers, with minimal packaging and no ingredient declaration. That makes it one of the harder products for a consumer to evaluate at the point of purchase. There is no ingredient list to read, no batch number to trace, and no allergen declaration to check.

The violations found here, specifically the licence category mismatch and the absence of any licence, suggest that a portion of the pheni circulating in Hyderabad's festive market is made in conditions that have never been inspected under manufacturing standards. The 12 samples sent for testing will determine whether adulteration is confirmed, but the hygiene violations alone are grounds for the suspensions already issued.

For buyers who want to reduce their exposure to this risk, a few practical steps are worth considering.

First, ask the retailer for the FSSAI licence number. Every food business selling packaged or loose food is required to display its licence or registration number. You can verify a licence number on the FSSAI Food Safety Connect portal. A business that cannot produce a number is operating illegally.

Second, look at the premises. The violations TG SAFE found, open storage, flies, gutka stains, are visible to any customer who looks past the counter. If the front of the shop is dirty, the production area almost certainly is too.

Third, for packaged pheni, check that the label carries the FSSAI licence number, the manufacturer's name and address, the net weight, and the best-before date. Under the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020, all packaged food sold in India must carry these details. A packet missing any of them is non-compliant.

Finally, if you buy loose pheni and it smells rancid, has an unusual colour, or leaves an oily residue that seems heavier than ghee would produce, do not consume it. Adulteration in fried sweets often involves substituting cheaper hydrogenated vegetable oils or recycled frying oil for ghee, which changes both the flavour profile and the oxidation rate of the product.

TG SAFE has run similar pre-festive drives in previous years, including a 2025 operation that seized 15 tonnes of adulterated and unhygienic food from sweet and savoury units across Hyderabad. The pattern suggests that enforcement pressure during the festive window does deter some violations, but the same categories of businesses, small unlicensed manufacturers and licence-category mismatches, keep appearing in each cycle. The lab results from the 12 samples lifted on October 8 will be the clearest indicator of how serious the adulteration problem is this year.