Haryana Food Adulteration Crackdown: 50000 Kg of Unsafe Sweets and Paneer Destroyed
The Haryana government has destroyed nearly 50000 kg of adulterated sweets and fake paneer in a statewide crackdown on food adulteration launched ahead of the festive season. Health Minister Arti Singh Rao said the state’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began a special inspection drive on 1 October 2026, and the seized stocks were destroyed during raids carried out across Haryana to protect consumers when demand for sweets and milk products is at its highest.
The scale of the drive is shown by its testing figures. So far, officials have collected 1288 samples of sweets, khoya, milk, paneer and other food items, of which 861 have been tested in government laboratories. As many as 170 samples failed to meet the prescribed standards, including 140 found substandard and 30 declared unsafe for human consumption. The department has also begun uploading the names and addresses of shopkeepers and vendors whose samples have failed on the official FDA Haryana portal, so that consumers can check before buying.
The action is part of a zero-tolerance approach to adulteration that the state government has spelled out clearly. The government has directed strict enforcement of the ban on the manufacture and sale of analogue paneer, the imitation product that is passed off as real paneer, and inspection teams have been told to keep up raids through the festive period. Officials say the aim is not only to seize unsafe stocks but to make sellers think twice before mixing inferior material into products that families buy for festivals.
District-level action shows how the drive is working on the ground. In Rohtak district alone, the Food Safety Department collected 91 food samples over three weeks and seized and destroyed 238 kg of adulterated paneer, 80 kg of substandard khoya and 72 kg of poor-quality sweets. The campaign there covered Rohtak, Meham, Kalanaur and Sampla towns, with 61 enforcement samples and 30 surveillance samples taken from food establishments, and Additional Deputy Commissioner Narendra Kumar overseeing the action. Officials said the Rohtak drive would continue until Bhaiya Dooj, with action to follow against shop owners whose samples failed laboratory tests.
Consumers have also been given a direct way to report suspected adulteration. The Health Minister urged people to complain through the Food Safety Compliance System (FoSCoS) portal at foscos.gov.in or by email at [email protected] if they suspect a sweet shop, dairy or food outlet is selling unsafe products. With the festive season driving heavy buying of sweets and milk products, the government says the combination of raids, laboratory testing, public naming of failed vendors and a clear complaint route is meant to keep Haryana’s festive tables safe.
