FSSAI Cracks Down on Adulterated Pheni: 1,950 kg Seized in Hyderabad Before Dasara, Diwali

Pheni is a fine, vermicelli-like fried wheat sweet traditionally prepared for Eid, Dasara, and Diwali across Hyderabad's older neighbourhoods. On October 8, 2026, the Telangana Standards Authority for Food and Essential Drugs (TG SAFE) seized 1,950 kg of pheni valued at Rs 2.30 lakh from establishments in Attapur, Jiyaguda, Charminar, Begum Bazar, Moosarambagh, and Badangpet, citing labelling violations and suspicion of adulteration. Twelve samples were lifted for laboratory testing, and results are pending.

The operation involved 12 enforcement teams, each comprising Food Safety Officers and police personnel, who inspected 12 manufacturing and retail units in a single day. Five FSSAI licences were suspended with immediate effect. Show-cause notices were issued to six establishments, with financial penalties proposed. One unit, Anjani Foods and Peni Works at Bharath Nagar, Jiyaguda, was ordered to shut down entirely after inspectors found it operating without any FSSAI licence under visibly unhygienic conditions.

What the inspectors actually found

The violations recorded go well beyond paperwork. Several establishments held retail-category FSSAI licences but were running manufacturing operations, a direct breach of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which requires separate licensing categories for manufacturing versus retail. Inspectors found food articles stored directly on floors without covering, no pest-control records, no health records for food handlers, and active housefly infestations.

Personal hygiene failures were widespread. Food handlers in multiple units wore half-sleeved clothing and no hairnets, both of which are required under FSSAI's Schedule 4 hygiene standards for food businesses. More alarming: gutka and pan masala spitting stains were found on the premises of several units, and packets of gutka and pan masala were found mixed in with food articles. Those contaminated batches were discarded on the spot.

The timing is deliberate. TG SAFE has a pattern of intensifying enforcement in the weeks before major festivals, when demand for traditional sweets and savouries spikes and smaller unlicensed producers enter the market to meet it. A prior TG SAFE operation in Jiyaguda had already busted a substandard pheni unit in the same locality, and a separate Hyderabad sweep earlier in 2026 had seized 15 tonnes of adulterated and unhygienic food from sweets and savoury units, including pest-infested premises.

What remains unknown at this point: TG SAFE has not released the laboratory results for the 12 samples lifted during this raid. Until those results are published, the adulteration is a suspicion backed by visual evidence, not a confirmed chemical finding. The authority also has not named four of the five establishments whose licences were suspended, making it difficult for consumers to cross-check where they buy pheni.

What buyers should do before Diwali

If you buy pheni, khara, or any traditional festive sweet from a Hyderabad shop or manufacturer, there are a few concrete checks worth making.

First, ask to see the FSSAI licence number displayed at the point of sale. Under the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, every food business operator is required to display the licence or registration certificate. A retail licence number starting with the state code for Telangana (36) should be visible. If the unit is manufacturing on-site, the licence category must cover manufacturing, not just retail.

Second, look at the storage. Pheni is a dry, fried product with a relatively low moisture content, but it absorbs odours and contaminants easily when stored uncovered on floors or near non-food items. Reputable shops store it in sealed containers or covered trays, away from raw ingredients.

Third, check the label. Packaged pheni sold in retail must carry the manufacturer's name and address, FSSAI licence number, net weight, date of manufacture, and best-before date under the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020. Loose, unlabelled pheni sold by weight carries no traceability. The 1,950 kg seized in this raid was flagged partly for labelling violations, which means buyers had no way to trace the product back to its source.

For home cooks making pheni or similar fried wheat sweets, the ingredient list is short: refined wheat flour (maida), oil or ghee, and sugar syrup. Adulteration in commercial pheni typically involves cheaper fats substituted for ghee, synthetic colours added for appearance, or starch extenders mixed into the dough. If a product is labelled "ghee pheni" but priced well below market rate for ghee, that gap is worth questioning.

TG SAFE's enforcement contact for Hyderabad complaints is available through the FSSAI consumer grievance portal, where buyers can also verify a business's licence status by entering the FSSAI licence number. The portal is publicly accessible and does not require registration.