Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration has ordered restaurants and hotels across the state to stop asking diners what type of water they want, mandating that potable water be served free of charge before any paid alternative is offered.
FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said the directive followed a personal experience at a restaurant. "A few days back, friends insisted on taking me out to dinner. Being a commissioner, I have a basic instinct to look into things 24/7. The moment I entered, I found non-compliances," he said.
Mundhe said the practice of restaurants asking customers to choose their water type before serving anything violated existing food safety norms. "I have issued orders very clearly: you cannot ask what type of water. You must provide pure, potable water first. Later, if the consumer wants bottled water, you provide it," he said.
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The order builds on a rule that has existed since 2017, when the FSSAI first clarified that all food business operators must ensure potable drinking water is available to customers free of cost, and that packaged water can only be offered as an option, never a requirement.
Mundhe said his own visit also flagged a second, more basic lapse: the licence was not displayed at the entrance, a mandatory requirement for every food business operator regardless of size. "The basic rule is that the licence has to be displayed at the door," he said.
Following the visit, the FDA sent a team to inspect the restaurant within 24 hours. Mundhe said this was part of a wider Hotel, Restaurant and Eatery order he has issued, reiterating 22 existing food regulations covering how kitchens must segregate, separate and store food. "If food is found to be unsafe, we suspend the licence immediately because consuming it could be injurious to health, which can attract life imprisonment," he said.
Mundhe pushed back on suggestions that his approach is overly aggressive, pointing to the scale of Maharashtra's food business ecosystem. The state has more than 11 lakh registered food business operators, of which over 4 lakh fall under the hotel, restaurant and eatery category.
"As a regulator, I am supposed to implement this impartially, equitably, and proportionately, without favouring or fearing anybody," he said, adding that genuine businesses have nothing to fear from stricter enforcement.
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