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Popularity was never my goal; what matters is public health: Tukaram Mundhe

From Hindustan Times · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Interview Named sources Ongoing story
  • Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said his enforcement campaign aims to improve public health rather than build his popularity.
  • Since he took charge in May 2026, authorities have acted against 12,083 entities, issued 5,269 improvement notices and suspended 603 entities, he said.
  • Mundhe identified hygiene and manufacturing practices, raw-material quality and insufficiently trained staff as the most common restaurant violations.

Tukaram Mundhe says the public attention surrounding his food-safety crackdown is beside the point. “Popularity was never my goal,” the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration commissioner told PTI. “What matters to me are issues like public health.”

It is not a distraction. Popularity was never my goal.

· Tukaram MundheHe rejected the idea that public attention from his crackdown distracts from his work.

Mundhe said the campaign should become a public issue rather than a story about him personally. Food and drug regulation affects public health, he said, and he would welcome greater public attention if his actions helped bring that issue to the forefront. He rejected the description of his enforcement as aggressive, saying he was diligently doing the work expected of him after two decades in public service.

Since taking charge as FDA commissioner in May, Mundhe said authorities have acted against 12,083 entities. They issued improvement notices to 5,269 and suspension orders to 603. Among hotels, restaurants and eateries, officials carried out 1,803 inspections, issued 948 improvement notices and suspended 199 licenses. In the pharmacy sector, 740 licenses were cancelled or suspended for various violations.

This is not about Tukaram Mundhe. This is about India and the goal to improve public health.

· Tukaram MundheHe framed the enforcement campaign as a public-health effort rather than a personal campaign.

Mundhe said the three most common restaurant violations involve hygiene and manufacturing protocols, the quality of raw materials and a lack of trained staff. He also said online food-ordering and delivery companies such as Swiggy and Zomato are legally food business operators, despite not viewing themselves that way. The FDA, he said, has taken action against their warehouses.

We cannot become a superpower if our human resources are not healthy.

· Tukaram MundheHe emphasized the broader national importance of public health.

He also discussed notices sent to Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff over an elaichi advertisement that the FDA suspects may promote a banned paan product indirectly. Two of the actors had responded, while the 30-day response period was still open. On criticism from the Bombay High Court over the FDA’s handling of the Cipla case, Mundhe said the agency had made no procedural mistake.

Basically, they are food business operators as per the law, but they don't think so. They have godowns. We have taken action against them.

· Tukaram MundheHe described the legal responsibility of online food-ordering and delivery platforms.
About this summary

Originally published by Hindustan Times. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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