In the 2025-26 financial year, 57 samples of bakery items and 34 samples of spices from the district were found unsafe for consumption. From April 2026 to date, 27 samples of bakery items and six spice samples were found to have preservatives, synthetic colours and pesticide residues above the permissible limits stipulated by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Kochi : Data from the food safety department have shown how unsafe our spices and bakery items are.
During Christmas and New Year season, incidents of adulterated cakes being sold are high,” said a food safety official in the district. No such facility is available in unorganised sector where workers use the preservatives or synthetic colours as they were directed or trained to do,” he said. In these cases, food safety officials have registered cases against those responsible and initiated prosecution procedures. “In bakery items, adulteration is mostly found in mixture and cake items. among popular snacks, we found that yellow synthetic colour is added to banana fritter. All-India food processors association vice-president and former president of the Kerala small-scale industrial association Tom Thomas observed that adulteration in food items is found in the unorganised sector. “No food processor adds pesticides in food items. It is coming from excess application of pesticides in crops at farmlands. In dry chilli, some farmers use synthetic red colour, which doesn’t go away even after washing. In bakery sector, well branded firms have laboratories to ensure the preservatives and colours are used at permissible limits.
If the temperature inside a store is consistently warmer than usual, perishable food items can sometimes get spoiled due to bacterial growth even before the printed expiry date,” warns IMA research cell, Kerala, convener Rajeev Jayadevan. Health experts advise customers to ensure the product has FSSAI certification and a nutritional label on its cover. “FSSAI’s responsibility is to ensure that products use approved, safe ingredients within permissible limits. Consumers must also read nutritional labels, particularly if they have underlying conditions like hypertension or diabetes. For instance, if a product contains high sodium, a consumer can choose to avoid it. Nowadays, AI bots can also assist in interpreting these labels. Checking the expiry date is crucial, and consumers must also be mindful of the storage conditions.