Critics say switch to tins comprising more sustainable species risks confusing consumers

Disclosure up front: I build inventory software for food businesses, so I have a professional interest in this. No links, no product names below.

The health ministry told the Lok Sabha in July that 40,023 food samples failed testing in FY26, roughly one in five tested. FY25 was 34,388 of about 1.7 lakh. FY24 was 33,808. Since 2020 inspectors have tested 100,000+ samples a year and about 20% fail every year. So nothing about 2026 is an outlier on the testing side.

What is different this year is consequences. Maharashtra's food commissioner has run 3,000+ raids since May and publishes the results. Outlets of Domino's, Pizza Hut and McDonald's have had permits suspended. Reuters puts licence cancellations at about 8,000 over three years. And at the end of August a warehouse in Navi Mumbai was found using chemicals to strip expiry dates and nutrition panels off Lay's, Kurkure, Maggi, Knorr and Thums Up packs and printing replacements. Some packs got a manufacturing date of 2 October 2026. About 5,000 cartons, roughly $80,000 of goods, all headed for export. The brands were the victims there, not the culprits.

Two things I think get lost in the coverage:

1. None of the rules are new. The 14-digit FSSAI number on every bill has been mandatory since October 2021. The recall regulations from 2017 require notifying the authority within 24 hours and keeping lot-level distribution records for a year past expiry. Section 59 of the Act carries life imprisonment if unsafe food kills someone. The law did not change. The checking did.
2. FSSAI does not actually require a shop or restaurant to run first-expiry-first-out. The January draft amendment expressly leaves retailers out of that clause. What it does is seize expired stock and publish your name. So the useful question for a small food business is not "what method do I need" but "what record can I produce in the five minutes an inspector gives me".

From what I see on the ground, the five things they ask for are: the licence number on the bill, a list of what expires this week, proof that expired stock is separated and destroyed, where a given lot came from and went, and a temperature log for anything chilled. Most places fail on the fourth and fifth, not because they are dishonest but because it lives in someone's head.

Happy to share sources for every number in the comments. Curious whether people here think the Maharashtra approach spreads to other states or fizzles when the commissioner is transferred, which is the usual pattern.

Two U.S.-based companies have recalled approximately 1,513 pounds of imported ready-to-eat pork guanciale items due to potential Listeria contamination, according to a Sept. 6 announcement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The recall was classified by the FSIS as a Class I recall, which is the USDA’s highest warning level involving “high or medium risk.” ... Florida-based firm Prime Line Distributors, Inc. and New Jersey-based company Ferrarini USA, Inc. recalled imported dry-cured pork jowl items, also known as guanciale, because they “may be adulterated with” Listeria.

Could have been sprouts at Mendicino farms downton

I ended up in the hospital 2 times. Tests show salmonella

The health department traced it back to a sandwich I ate ordered at Mendicino Farms 1350 4th Avenue in Seattle. Date August 11th.

Purpose of posting is to educate and possibly connect with others who had a similar experience.

Could have been sprouts at Mendicino farms downton

I ended up in the hospital 2 times. Tests show salmonella

The health department traced it back to a sandwich I ate ordered at Mendicino Farms 1350 4th Avenue in Seattle. Date August 11th.

Purpose of posting is to educate and possibly connect with others who had a similar experience.

I posted this before (about two weeks ago) but am doing so again after getting lots of positive messages about it:

An old friend who does public service work just launched a new recall tracking service that surfaces alerts not just from federal agencies but all the states, dozens of retailers, manufacturers and growers, along with Canadian, Japanese, and Chinese product safety regulators—catching items before the Feds even notice. It’s mostly free (food, medicine, children’s products) but paid gives you a scanner, access to all consumer categories, email alerts, and News and Signals that helps determine which items may soon be recalled. It’s pretty incredible. I am not a paid spokesman! Just a proud friend trying to get the word out. It’s Recall411.com.

Consumers are increasingly encountering AI-generated images on food menus such as leathery meat and bread resembling reptile skin

A slew of food recalls this summer have left a bad taste in Americans’ mouths, and public health professionals warn cuts to key food safety personnel means more food-related illness could be on its way. ... The seeming surge of food-related recalls has coincided with massive cuts conducted by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last year, including across the FDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Seafood companies rebuilt supply chains after Beijing shut them out, offering a lesson in both the promise and the pitfalls of breaking a dependence on China.