India food safety: Tamil Nadu leads in testing and convictions

Recent data presented to the Lok Sabha reveals significant disparities in food safety enforcement across Indian states for the 2025-26 period. Tamil Nadu emerged as the national leader in testing, conducting 44,603 tests—nearly 20% of the total samples tested in India. The state also recorded the highest number of criminal convictions, with 857 cases, representing approximately 45% of the national total.

In contrast, Telangana reported zero penalties or criminal convictions during the same period, despite 398 of its 3,576 tested samples failing quality checks. While the Telangana Food Safety Department described its approach as "corrective rather than punitive," favoring improvement notices over prosecution, the state's enforcement numbers trail significantly behind neighbors like Kerala and Karnataka.

Nationally, 223,808 samples were tested, resulting in 178,692 non-conforming samples and 6,251 convictions. Challenges to food safety regulation include staff shortages, with Tamil Nadu reporting 68 vacant Food Safety Officer posts and Telangana reporting only 44 of 81 sanctioned positions filled.