High adulteration rates reflect not only better testing but also widespread food safety violations. Tamil Nadu and Kerala's consistently high rates suggest issues with unchecked suppliers, low consumer awareness, and weak regulatory action
Published Apr 09, 2025 | 5:17 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 09, 2025 | 5:17 PM
Boxes with different food items. (iStock)
Synopsis: Food adulteration remains a significant concern in South India, with one in seven food samples tested from 2021 to 2024 failing to meet safety standards. Official data, presented by Minister Prataprao Jadhav on 4 April 2025, reveals that 22,969 out of 160,130 samples were non-compliant, particularly in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Kerala, highlighting serious food safety enforcement issues.
Food adulteration remains a widespread health concern in South India, with one in every seven food samples tested over the past four years found to be non-conforming—that is, failing to meet basic safety and quality standards.
This troubling trend has emerged from official data presented in the Lok Sabha on 4 April, 2025, by Prataprao Jadhav, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Between 2021 and 2024(till September), food safety authorities in the five South Indian states—Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana—tested a total of 160,130 food samples. Out of these, 22,969 samples were found to be non-conforming, meaning they failed to meet the required food safety and quality standards. This includes adulterated food items, misbranded products, and those with labeling or ingredient violations.
Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Kerala consistently reported the highest adulteration rates in the region, raising red flags about enforcement, inspection practices, and the overall safety of food sold across South Indian markets.
When the numbers are viewed year by year, the highest rate of adulteration occurred in 2022–23, when more than 1 in 5 samples (20.44 percent) were found non-compliant. That year alone, 10,609 out of 51,891 samples failed safety checks across these states.
In contrast, 2021–22 and 2023–24 both saw adulteration rates of around 11.6 percent, and the latest available data from 2024–25 (till September) showed a slightly lower rate of 10.6 percent, though that number could rise as more samples are tested by year-end.
Overall, the data suggests that approximately one in every seven food samples tested in South India over the past four years has failed safety standards, a clear indication that food adulteration is not a sporadic problem but a systemic one. Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Kerala are repeatedly among the top contributors to these numbers, both in terms of volume of testing and in the percentage of non-conforming samples.
This consistent pattern points to significant gaps in food quality enforcement and regulatory oversight, raising important public health concerns across the region.
The most recent data from 2024–25, though limited to the first six months (till September), revealed that Tamil Nadu was once again the southern state with the highest adulteration rate. Fourteen percent of the 7,839 food samples tested were found adulterated, continuing the state’s pattern of topping the South Indian chart.
Kerala reported 12.7 percent adulteration, with 564 out of 4,425 samples failing the test. Telangana’s numbers, while slightly lower than the previous year, remained high at 10.1 percent.
Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka reported 9.9 percent and 8 percent respectively. Even within a partial year, the persistence of double-digit adulteration rates in several southern states underlined the scale of the problem.
The following year, 2022–23, saw a significant jump in adulteration rates across the board. Tamil Nadu’s numbers spiked dramatically, with 32.76 percent of food samples found to be adulterated—the highest not just in the South but among the highest nationally. A total of 7,924 out of 24,188 samples were non-conforming.
Kerala’s adulteration rate also rose sharply to 15.96 percent, while Telangana reported 18.59 percent, signaling an ongoing problem. Karnataka, despite a smaller sample size, recorded 9.43 percent adulteration, and Andhra Pradesh stood at 8.71 percent. These figures pointed to a troubling trend of rising food adulteration in South India, with Tamil Nadu leading in sheer volume and proportion.
In 2023–24, the adulteration rates remained high, although Tamil Nadu ceded the top spot among southern states to Telangana. Telangana recorded a 15.81 percent adulteration rate, with 973 out of 6,156 samples found non-compliant with food safety norms.
Tamil Nadu followed with 12.33 percent, with over 2,200 adulterated samples from more than 18,000 tests. Kerala maintained similar levels as the previous year at 12.08 percent, while Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka recorded lower adulteration rates—7.33 percent and 5.21 percent, respectively. While Tamil Nadu continued to test the highest number of samples, the sustained levels of adulteration suggested systemic issues in food quality assurance and regulatory oversight.
In 2021–22, Tamil Nadu emerged as the southern state with the highest level of food adulteration. Out of 16,363 samples analyzed, 3,778 were found non-conforming—an adulteration rate of 23.09 percent.
Kerala followed with 11.78 percent, based on 925 adulterated samples out of 7,855. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana reported 10.08 percent and 11.47 percent respectively, while Karnataka recorded the lowest adulteration rate in the region at just 2.57 percent—150 samples out of 5,844.
What makes these figures more concerning is their comparison with the national scenario. In each of the four years, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest adulteration rates in India, crossing 50 percent in every single year and reaching as high as 60.08 percent in 2022–23. However, in the context of South India, the data repeatedly pointed to Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Kerala as the worst-affected.
“Intake of adulterated food can cause certain health effects like diarrhea, nausea, allergic reactions etc. In cases where food samples are found to be nonconforming, penal action is taken against the defaulting Food Business Operators as per the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, Rules and Regulations. Further, to extend the reach of basic testing facilities even in remote areas, FSSAI has provided mobile food testing labs called Food Safety on Wheels (FSWs). FSSAI also conducts periodic Pan-India Surveillance of food products especially on staple foods and commodities that are prone to adulteration,” said health minister in the parliament. .
The high adulteration rates are not just a reflection of better enforcement or more rigorous testing in some states but also an indicator of the scale of food safety violations. While Tamil Nadu and Kerala tested the highest number of samples among the southern states, their consistently high rates of adulteration suggest a deeper issue related to unchecked food suppliers, lack of consumer awareness, and inadequate follow-through on regulatory action.
(Edited by Ananya Rao)
