Hyderabad’s adulterated food raids: Decoy buyers, tip-offs lead to a series of busts

Hyderabad's food safety raids uncover widespread adulteration, leading to significant seizures and heightened community concerns about food quality.

A small, dimly lit room in the rear of a shop in a busy residential colony, plastic containers stacked against a flaking wall and sacks of raw material lying on stained floors. Poorly ventilated rooms with a strong smell of oils and spices, grimy containers and finished products kept in unhygienic conditions, exposed to dust and flies, are some other spaces that the police personnel in Hyderabad have been visiting over the past month. The raids have led to the seizure of thousands of kilograms of raw material and hundreds of kilograms of adulterated food products.

According to officials, such operations rarely begin with a raid. They usually start with a tip-off, from an informer, a local resident or even a customer who suspects something about a product being off. Once the information reaches the police, the first step is to verify it. This is often done through decoy operations, said N. Ranjith Kumar Goud, Inspector of the newly formed Anti Food Adulteration Wing.

Policemen posing as regular buyers visit the shop, purchase the product and make casual enquiries to understand where it is sourced from or manufactured. “Through these interactions, we are able to trace the manufacturing unit or storage godown where the products are prepared or stocked. Once the location is confirmed, a larger operation is organised,” Mr. Goud said.

Task Force teams then conduct raids in coordination with local police and Food Safety officials, forming what are now referred to as Anti-Food Adulteration Surveillance Teams. Sub-Inspector Vijayanand from the Task Force said those involved in such rackets are often caught unprepared. “When questioned, they begin explaining how the products are made, where the raw materials are sourced. In one dairy products raid in Banjara Hills, the manufacturers said they were using vanaspati oil to meet increased demand during Ramzan because pure ghee takes longer to produce,” he said.

Adulterated dairy products seized during a raid by Commissioner’s Task Force and Masab Tank police in Banjara Hills, on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: By Arrangement

Most of the units uncovered so far have been located in residential areas. Raids included fake dairy products unit operating under the name “Pride Dairy” in Bhola Nagar near Road No. 12 in Banjara Hills and adulterated ginger garlic paste manufacturing unit at railway gate at MS Maqtha. “These are the kind of places that once you see them, you would not want to see them again, and certainly not eat anything produced there,” Mr. Goud said.