Hyderabad food safety raids: 8 restaurants including Biryani By Kilo shut for hygiene violations, spoiled food

The Telangana Standards Authority for Food and Essential Drugs (TG-SAFE) suspended the food safety licences of eight cloud kitchens and restaurants in Hyderabad on November 10, 2026, after inspections across the CURE region turned up cockroach and rodent infestations, nearly 700 kg of spoiled food, expired ingredients, and food handlers working without gloves or hairnets.

TG-SAFE deployed 24 enforcement teams, each comprising Food Safety Officers and police personnel, to inspect 23 cloud kitchens and restaurants. Teams collected 25 food samples for suspected adulteration testing. All eight establishments whose licences were suspended have been ordered to halt operations immediately, pending reinspection and possible penalties.

What the raids found

The eight outlets named in the suspension order are Biryani By Kilo (Gachibowli), Kulcha Kulture (Madhapur), Lucky Multicuisine Restaurant (Somajiguda), Tum Yum Innovisions (Madhapur), Zora 11 By 2 (Khairatabad), LO Fresh Foods (Ayyappa Society), ITC Aashirwad Soul Creations cloud kitchen (Gachibowli), and Sodexo India Services (Kondapur).

Biryani By Kilo, whose parent company is majority-owned by Devyani International (the KFC and Pizza Hut franchisee), had its Gachibowli outlet flagged for spoiled rice, pest-infested flour, live cockroaches, and rusted kitchen equipment. The brand markets itself on slow-cooked, handi-style biryani, but the inspection report, as cited by The Siasat Daily, describes a kitchen that did not meet basic FSSAI hygiene standards.

ITC Aashirwad Soul Creations, a cloud kitchen brand under ITC Limited, was cited for spoiled and expired food, cockroach infestation, and corroded chopping boards at its Gachibowli location. ITC's Aashirwad brand is widely associated with packaged atta and ready-to-eat products positioned as wholesome. The cloud kitchen arm operates separately, but the shared brand name means the violations carry reputational weight beyond a single outlet.

At Kulcha Kulture in Madhapur, inspectors found rodent infestation, expired food articles, and potatoes that had been bitten by rats. Lucky Multicuisine Restaurant in Somajiguda was storing vegetarian and non-vegetarian food in the same refrigerator compartments, alongside expired products and live cockroaches. This is a direct violation of FSSAI's Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, which require separate storage for vegetarian and non-vegetarian items.

At Sodexo India Services in Kondapur, officials found decomposed vegetables and unhygienic storage conditions. Sodexo India Services is the Indian arm of the global food services company Sodexo, which manages institutional and corporate catering contracts across the country.

Across all eight outlets, inspectors flagged clogged drains, greasy exhaust systems, fungal contamination on vegetables, and food handlers working without protective gear.

Why this matters for anyone ordering food in Hyderabad

These are not small or obscure operations. Biryani By Kilo, ITC Aashirwad Soul Creations, and Sodexo India Services are brands with national footprints and, in some cases, corporate clients. The violations found here are not edge cases or paperwork lapses. Rat-bitten potatoes, corroded chopping boards, and live cockroach infestations in active kitchens point to systemic failures in daily kitchen management, not a single bad day.

For consumers who order through aggregator apps, the cloud kitchen model adds a layer of opacity. You cannot walk into a cloud kitchen and see the prep area. The only real check is the regulator, and TG-SAFE's sweep shows that even well-funded brands can let hygiene slip when there is no routine oversight.

The Bakingo outlet in Madhapur, inspected separately, was not among the eight suspended, but TG-SAFE officials cited by ANI said 60 kg of cake bases were discarded after inspectors found the outlet was using products past their November 10, 2026 expiry date to prepare cakes sold with a declared shelf life through November 12. Bakingo's licence was not suspended, but the incident illustrates a specific practice worth knowing: expiry dates on intermediate ingredients (bases, mixes, pre-made components) do not always match the declared shelf life on the finished product sold to the customer.

This is the second major enforcement wave TG-SAFE has run in recent weeks. On October 31, the authority suspended licences of eight hotels including Nayaab. About a month before that, a separate drive targeting quick-commerce dark stores across Hyderabad led to four licence suspensions after teams found cockroach infestations, expired products, fungal growth on vegetables, and rusted storage racks.

TG-SAFE has not published the full inspection reports or the specific FSSAI regulation clauses cited in each suspension order. Until those are public, it is not possible to confirm whether the suspensions will hold, be challenged, or result in fines beyond the licence halt.

What you should do as a buyer or home cook

FSSAI maintains a public database called FoSCoS (Food Safety Compliance System) where you can check whether a restaurant or cloud kitchen holds a valid licence and whether any enforcement action has been recorded against it. The licence number is legally required to appear on menus, packaging, and aggregator app listings. If it is missing, that alone is a red flag.

When ordering from cloud kitchens specifically, check the aggregator listing for the FSSAI licence number and cross-reference it on the FoSCoS portal at foscos.fssai.gov.in. Aggregator platforms are required under FSSAI's 2020 e-commerce food business guidelines to display this information, though compliance is uneven.

For home cooks buying packaged ingredients, the Bakingo episode is a reminder to check expiry dates on intermediate products such as pre-made dough, cake bases, and ready-to-use sauces, not just finished goods. These items often have shorter shelf lives than the packaging suggests once opened.

TG-SAFE has said reinspections will follow for all eight suspended outlets, with further penalties depending on findings. Whether any of these outlets reopen quickly or face extended shutdowns will depend on those reinspection results, which TG-SAFE has not yet scheduled publicly.