14 Hyderabad restaurants lose FSSAI licences over food safety violations; Shah Ghouse, Hotel Nayaab suspended

TG SAFE, the Telangana Standards Authority for Food and Essential Drugs, suspended the FSSAI food safety licences of 14 restaurants in Hyderabad on October 31, 2026, following a single-day enforcement sweep across the Golconda and Charminar zones.

The inspections were carried out by 22 enforcement teams made up of Food Safety Officers and police personnel, who examined 22 restaurants and food establishments in total. Among the 14 whose licences were suspended are two of the city's most-visited eateries: Shah Ghouse Cafe in Shalibanda and Hotel Nayaab in Nayapul. The suspensions require all 14 establishments to halt business operations immediately.

TG SAFE also issued show-cause notices to eight other establishments, including Taj Falaknuma Palace (the five-star heritage hotel in Falaknuma), Pista House Restaurant in Shahalibanda, and Golconda Hotel and Resorts in Masab Tank. Show-cause notices precede formal penalties and give the named establishments a window to respond before further action is taken.

What the inspectors found

The violations documented across the 14 suspended restaurants were not minor paperwork gaps. Inspectors recorded cockroach and housefly infestations, fungus-contaminated vegetables, expired food products still in active use, and raw meat stored alongside vegetarian food items. Walls and exhaust systems were described as greasy, flooring was damaged, and water stagnation was observed in kitchen areas. Food handlers were working without hairnets or gloves.

One violation that carries a specific public health risk is the repeated use of cooking oil for frying. When oil is reheated multiple times, it degrades into compounds including polar compounds and trans fats. FSSAI's 2018 notification on Total Polar Compounds sets a legal ceiling of 25% TPC in frying oils, beyond which the oil must be discarded. The 13 kg of used oil seized during this sweep was discarded on suspicion of exceeding safe reuse limits.

In total, officials discarded 544 kg of spoiled and contaminated material, including vegetables, leftover food, expired products, and pest-infested food articles. They also collected 21 food samples for adulteration testing; results from those tests have not been published yet.

The full list of suspended establishments, with their localities:

• Shah Ghouse Cafe, Shalibanda
• Hotel Nayaab, Nayapul
• Dine Hill Restaurant
• Sohail Restaurant
• Aeezebo The Royal Arabian Restaurant
• Hotel Sri Raghavendra Udupi Veg, Tolichowki
• Hotel Sri Raghavendra Udupi Veg, Santosh Nagar
• Lucky Restaurant, Santosh Nagar
• Sri Balaji Family Dhaba, Gudimalkapur
• Siddique Kabab Central Kitchen, Gudimalkapur
• Alsaba Hotel, Tolichowki
• Mehfil Restaurant, Dilsukhnagar
• Hotel Akshaya Tiffins, Malakpet
• Hotel Venkateshwara, MJR Road

Why this matters for anyone eating out in Hyderabad

This is the third significant enforcement action TG SAFE has run in Hyderabad in a short period. Earlier rounds suspended licences at eight establishments and then nine more, with Shadab Hotel among those previously caught. The pattern points to a sustained crackdown rather than a one-off raid, and the geographic spread, from Dilsukhnagar in the east to Tolichowki in the west, suggests no part of the city is being treated as low-priority.

The inclusion of Shah Ghouse and Hotel Nayaab matters beyond the headline. Both are institutions in Hyderabad's Old City food scene, drawing long queues for biryani and haleem. Their suspension signals that brand reputation does not insulate an establishment from enforcement. The show-cause notice to Taj Falaknuma Palace, a luxury property managed by Taj Hotels (IHCL), extends that signal to the premium segment.

For diners who care about what goes into their food, the violations here go beyond hygiene optics. Raw meat stored with vegetarian food is a direct cross-contamination risk for anyone eating what they believe is a vegetarian meal. Expired ingredients and fungus-contaminated vegetables affect everyone. Repeated frying oil is a concern tied to long-term dietary fat quality, not just immediate food safety.

FSSAI licence suspensions under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 are not permanent closures by default. An establishment can apply for reinstatement after demonstrating corrective action. TG SAFE has not published a timeline for reinstatement reviews in this round.

What to do before you eat out

FSSAI maintains a public database called FoSCoS (Food Safety Compliance System) where anyone can search a restaurant's licence status by name or FSSAI licence number. Before visiting a restaurant, particularly in areas that have seen recent enforcement activity, checking FoSCoS takes under a minute and shows whether a licence is active, suspended, or cancelled.

When you are inside a restaurant, a few things are worth noting. The FSSAI licence certificate must be displayed in a visible location; its absence is itself a violation. Food handlers without gloves or hairnets in open kitchens are a signal worth taking seriously. If a kitchen is visible, oil that is very dark or smoking at low temperatures has likely been reused beyond safe limits.

For the 21 food samples collected during this sweep, adulteration test results will be published by TG SAFE if violations are confirmed. Those results, when available, will appear on the TG SAFE official portal. The adulteration findings matter separately from the hygiene violations: a restaurant can fix a dirty kitchen faster than it can explain adulterated food.

Anyone who has eaten at one of the 14 suspended establishments recently and experienced symptoms consistent with foodborne illness can file a complaint directly with TG SAFE or through the FSSAI consumer helpline at 1800-112-100.