276 inspections, 132 samples, 800 kg of sweets destroyed. That is the scorecard the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), Jammu and Kashmir, put out this week from a two-day festive enforcement drive across all districts ahead of Diwali.
The numbers, as FDA reported them
- 276 inspections and 132 food samples lifted for analysis.
- 34 cases compounded under Section 69 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, with fines of Rs 39,000 in all.
- 13 cases recommended for legal action under Sections 56 and 58 for unhygienic or insanitary processing and handling.
- 14 Improvement Notices under Section 32, directing operators to fix deficiencies within a set period.
- Two food business licences suspended.
- 800 kg of sweets, valued at about Rs 1,44,000, destroyed in Jammu and Kathua districts after being found processed in poor sanitary conditions.
Under the Act as FDA described it, Section 56 allows a penalty of up to Rs 1 lakh for processing in unhygienic conditions, and Section 58 up to Rs 2 lakh for contraventions with no specific penalty.
What FDA asks buyers to do
- Buy food only from licensed or registered food business operators.
- Read the label on packaged items: the manufacturing and expiry dates.
- Report suspected adulteration or violations to the concerned authorities. The report we read does not give a helpline number, so check FDA J&K's own channels.
A few practical habits
These are common-sense steps rather than FDA instructions: ask loose-sweet shops whether they display their licence or registration, prefer sealed boxes with a printed date, and treat a bargain price on a large festive order with caution. Gifting? Check the box before you hand it over.
The drive covered all districts, but the destruction of sweets was reported in Jammu and Kathua. The report does not name the shops involved, and neither do we.
Source: Greater Kashmir, "FDA J&K destroys 800 kg of sweets ahead of Diwali" (7 November 2026). The photo is FDA J&K's inspection photograph from the drive, published with that report.
