India: Are food safety rules too much to swallow?

Over the past few months, inspectors from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) raided kitchens at five-star hotels in New Delhi's Aerocity, including the JW Marriott and Andaz.

The inspectors reported "several serious food safety and hygiene deficiencies" at the Andaz, including "improper segregation of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food, pest activity, poor sanitation, inadequate food handler hygiene and improper storage practices."

During their visit to the JW Marriott property, inspectors observed "serious hygiene and sanitation deficiencies," including "unclean utensils and food-contact surfaces, visible particulate matter in the drinking water" and "inadequate pest control."

Both hotels said they were cooperating fully with regulators and reviewing or implementing corrective measures while reaffirming their commitment to food safety, hygiene and guest well-being.

The FSSAI crackdown is not limited to premium restaurants. The regulator has also issued more than 150 notices since July to leading food and beverage companies, primarily over misleading advertisements, health claims and labeling. The concerns highlighted by the recent raids are reflected in the FSSAI's testing data.

In 2023-24 and 2024-25, authorities tested about 170,000 food samples each year, with roughly 1 in 5 found to be non-conforming. In 2025-26, the testing showed only a slight improvement: Out of 223,808 samples, 40,023 failed to meet safety or labeling standards , according to provisional data given to Parliament in July. "Non-conforming" includes adulterated, substandard, contaminated and misbranded food.

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Sunil Ghadiok, a veteran hotelier with more than 45 years in the industry and founder of Enserve Hospitality and Management Services, said the "lapses" did not reflect the industry as a whole.