Restaurant Hygiene Should Not Be a Secret
A customer can see a restaurant’s menu, prices, interiors, Google rating, Instagram feed and hundreds of reviews. But there is one important rating they usually cannot see: How safely is the food actually being handled? That question has become difficult to ignore after Maharashtra’s recent food-safety crackdown. Since Tukaram Mundhe took charge of the Maharashtra FDA in May 2026, the department has conducted more than 3,000 inspections and raids, according to Reuters. The action has extended well beyond small or unorganized eateries. International chains, established restaurants, clubs, hotels and quick-commerce food warehouses have all come under scrutiny.
Four Domino’s outlets and a Pizza Hut outlet faced action over serious hygiene violations. A McDonald’s outlet in Colaba subsequently had its license suspended. Investigations across establishments have reported pest infestations, expired food, inadequate sanitation, unsafe storage and poorly maintained food-handling areas. For the hospitality industry, this should not be viewed simply as a regulatory crackdown.
Poor hygiene hurts responsible restaurant operators just as much as it puts customers at risk. The larger problem is that food-safety compliance in India remains largely invisible to the customer. A restaurant can spend crores on interiors and
marketing and build an excellent online reputation. None of that tells a diner whether refrigeration temperatures are being monitored, pest-control schedules are current, raw and cooked foods are segregated correctly, or staff are following basic hygiene protocols. We rate restaurants for food, service, ambience and value. Perhaps it is time we prominently rated them for food safety as well.
New York made hygiene visible
New York City introduced mandatory restaurant letter grades in 2010. Inspection violations generate points, with lower scores indicating better compliance:
A: 0–13 points B: 14–27 points C: 28+ points
Restaurants must display their final grade prominently where customers can see it before entering. The city currently oversees approximately 29,000 restaurants, and inspection results are also publicly searchable online. More importantly, NYC Health says food-safety practices improved after grading was introduced, including fewer restaurants being cited for unsafe food temperatures and evidence of mice. That changes hygiene from something discussed after a violation into something that can influence a customer's purchasing decision every day.
India already has the framework
India does not need to invent this system from scratch. FSSAI already operates a Hygiene Rating Scheme, under which eligible food businesses can receive ratings from 1 to 5 stars based on food-safety and hygiene compliance. The problem is that the program remains voluntary and has not become a universal consumer-facing standard. Interestingly, FSSAI already requires licensed food businesses to comply with prescribed hygiene requirements and maintain appropriate food-safety management systems. So the bigger opportunity may not be creating another regulation. It is making existing compliance visible.
What should change?
A practical system could progressively require:
Mandatory hygiene ratings for restaurants, cafés, hotels, bakeries, cloud kitchens and other significant food-service businesses.
Prominent display at the entrance, showing the rating and inspection date.
A QR code linked to inspection history, including significant violations and corrective action.
Display of the official rating on Swiggy, Zomato and other delivery platforms, especially important for cloud kitchens customers never physically see.
Risk-based, partly unannounced inspections, with poorly rated establishments inspected more frequently.
Clear corrective-action and reinspection procedures, so genuine public-health risks can be acted upon immediately while operators also receive transparent due process.
That last point matters. In a recent Pune case, the Bombay High Court questioned the continued suspension of a sweet's retailer after a follow-up inspection reportedly showed compliance with 35 of 36 parameters. Strong enforcement and procedural fairness are not contradictory. A credible grading system requires both. For hospitality businesses, the practical response should not be to prepare for inspections at the last minute. Food safety needs to be built into everyday operations through documented SOPs, temperature-control systems, cleaning and pest-management schedules, staff training, vendor controls, internal audits and clear management accountability.
This is also an area where AKX Global works with restaurants, hotels and hospitality institutions to strengthen operational systems, identify compliance gaps and put practical food-safety and process controls in place before they become regulatory or reputational problems.
Raids create headlines. Ratings create habits.
Maharashtra’s current enforcement drive has brought food safety into public discussion. But a sustainable system cannot depend on periodic crackdowns, viral inspection videos or the determination of individual officers. A strong system should work quietly every day.
Visible hygiene grades would give customers better information, reward responsible operators and give restaurant owners a direct commercial incentive to maintain standards consistently—not merely when an inspection is expected. And for operators already investing seriously in food safety, that transparency should be an advantage rather than a burden. Restaurant hygiene should not be a promise made by the restaurant. It should be an independently verified fact that every customer can see. Raids can clean up individual kitchens. Transparency can change the culture of an industry.
Comments