For Tukaram Mundhe, the officer from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), who took charge of Maharashtra's food and drug administration (FDA) department in May, an expiry date printed on a food packet is not a technicality. "An expiry date is not just ink on a package. A nutrition label is not just information. They are promises made to the consumer,"
he wrote in a recent post on X. "When those promises are deliberately manipulated, it is not merely a violation of regulations, it is a breach of public trust."
That warning found a real-world test case this week. On 1 September 2026, the Maharashtra FDA ( food and drug administration) said a joint operation with the Navi Mumbai police crime branch had busted a racket allegedly involved in tampering with manufacturing and expiry dates on packaged food, seizing goods worth about ₹75.5 lakh. The raid, conducted between 24th August and 29 August 2026 at a unit in Navi Mumbai's Turbhe industrial belt, allegedly found original date stamps and nutrition stickers being stripped off and replaced with fresh ones before products — including well-known snack and instant-noodle brands — were repacked for sale. Investigators reportedly recovered inkjet printers, thinners and pre-made stickers used in the process, and seized over 8,400 cartons linked to 10 exporters.
It is exactly this kind of deception that Mr Mundhe has repeatedly called out in his public posts as a betrayal of consumer trust rather than a mere paperwork lapse. "Effective regulation is not about creating fear in the industry," he wrote. "It is about creating an ecosystem where honest businesses are protected, violations are detected, and citizens are not deceived."
A Crackdown with a Wider Sweep
Since taking over in May, Mr Mundhe has turned the FDA into a hard-charging enforcement body, ordering well over 1,000 inspections, cracking down on adulterated milk and paneer, suspending restaurant licences for hygiene violations, and temporarily shutting outlets of major chains, including Domino's and Pizza Hut. Statewide checks on facilities linked to quick-commerce platforms Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart also led to licence suspensions.
The department has gone after celebrity endorsements too, issuing show-cause notices (SCNs) to actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff over an advertisement for a pan masala brand's
elaichi product that is banned in the state (
Read: Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Tiger Shroff Face FDA Notices over Vimal Elaichi Ad). By some counts, the FDA under Mr Mundhe has seized unsafe or non-compliant food worth more than ₹55 crore since May and filed hundreds of first information reports (FIRs), an action that has drawn public backing from chief minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis amid reports of industry pushback against the commissioner.
Taking the Fight into School Canteens
Mr Mundhe's enforcement drive has also reached into an unlikely arena: the school tiffin box.
"A healthier choice should be the easier one," he posted. "When idlis replace vada pav, and chaas replace cola in a school canteen, it may appear to be a small change. But it is a shift in the food environment in which children form habits."
Acting on that principle, the FDA in late-July barred the sale, distribution and advertising of high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt foods — including deep-fried snacks, sugary drinks, vada pav, samosas, chocolates and ice cream — inside schools and within a 50-metre radius of school premises. The order has already changed what is on offer at several Mumbai-area schools: institutions run by the Archdiocesan Board of Education have swapped vada pav and samosas for idli, dosa, poha, sheera and upma and have banned aerated drinks, while a Thane school has replaced soft drinks with chaas.
"Public Health Begins on the Plate, Not in Hospitals"
He has framed the sustained drive as a test of institutional will as much as of regulation. "Leadership is tested when doing the right thing is not the easiest thing to do,"
he wrote.
"Positions change. Circumstances change. Principles must endure" — a line that carries extra weight given his own record: known in some quarters as 'Singham IAS', Mr Mundhe has reportedly been transferred 25 times across a 21-year career and has faced speculation of a transfer even during the current posting.
In a more reflective post, he tied the crackdown back to its human stakes: "Food safety is ultimately about people, not files, inspections or statistics. Every safe meal is a family protected. Every action against unsafe food is a step towards protecting someone's health, dignity and future."
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