A few days ago, I had some foreign friends visiting India. First-timers, excited, curious. They had their checklist ready—Taj Mahal, Varanasi, street food. But along with the excitement, there was something else: fear. Not of crime, not of scams, not even of getting lost in the labyrinthine streets of Old Delhi. Their biggest concern? Food poisoning.
“Will we get sick?” they asked.
I didn’t know how to answer. I could have given them the standard advice—stick to bottled water, avoid raw salads, eat where there’s high turnover. But the truth is, even locals get hit. Every Indian I know has had at least one battle with a stomach bug, a mystery fever, or a suspicion of typhoid. It’s 2025, and this shouldn’t still be a concern. And yet, here we are.
More Rules, No Solutions
If you go by the books, food safety in India should be watertight. We have the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), countless municipal regulations, and even state-specific rules. There are mandatory licenses, inspections, and even digital compliance systems. On paper, we should have the cleanest, safest food in the world.
But step outside, and reality slaps you in the face. Dhabas with water tanks full of algae, restaurants where the same oil has been frying pakoras since last Diwali, chaat stalls with staff that doesnt wash their hands, waiters that serve food while their finger is dipped in the curry. Street food is a gamble, restaurant kitchens are an unknown, and packaged food? Well, let’s not even get into the expired products getting a new sticker and gross violations of hygiene on the factory floor (literally floor because many factory owners refuse to invest in hygienic tables).
This isn’t about lack of regulation. It’s about how regulation actually functions in India. And food safety is just one example.
The Mafia Model of Enforcement
We’ve seen this before. Labour laws, pollution control, real estate norms—India is full of industries drowning in rules but starving for real enforcement. Here’s the typical pattern:
- Make more and more rules – Every time there’s a public outcry (a food poisoning scandal, a pollution spike), the response is predictable: “We need stricter regulations, shut down that store that we happened to raid once in 10 years, or pay a fine and carry on business as usual, .” So, new paperwork is introduced. More forms, more approvals, more “processes.”
- Ensure no one can fully comply – The rules are so complex, expensive, and unrealistic that following them 100% is almost impossible. A small restaurant that actually adheres to every hygiene standard will go out of business. A factory that genuinely follows pollution norms will not remain competitive.
- Turn enforcement into a business – Instead of improving conditions, the system turns into a rent-seeking operation. Inspectors don’t exist to enforce laws; they exist to extract money. If you don’t pay, suddenly, your compliance is “incomplete.” If you do, your violations disappear. It’s not about safety or pollution or workers’ rights—it’s about who pays whom.
And when the entire enforcement system runs like this, nothing actually changes. The cycle repeats: People get sick. A scandal happens. More rules are made. More bribes are paid. No one is actually safe.
We live in a world where lab-grown meat is a reality, where AI is optimizing everything from healthcare to logistics. And yet, an Indian in 2025 still has to worry about typhoid from bad water or food poisoning from street food.
It doesn’t fit. It’s not just embarrassing—it’s absurd. And overpopulation is no excuse, there are overpopulated countries with better Food Safety outcomes across the world.
Foreigners assume we don’t care about hygiene. But we do. The problem isn’t a lack of rules; it’s that the system isn’t designed to fix anything. It’s designed to extract money. That’s why we have five-star hotels with pristine kitchens and roadside eateries where the cooking station is inches from an open drain. The government officials enforcing these laws don’t care about safety—they care about their cut.
So, what’s the fix? It’s not more rules. We need something people can actually follow, without bribes and bureaucracy. Imagine if every restaurant had to display a hygiene score, updated monthly, right at the entrance. No complicated government apps—just a sticker, plain and simple.
Because in the end, if people demand better, businesses will be forced to clean up. Until then, we’ll keep playing food roulette, hoping today isn’t the day we lose.