Stapler Pin Found in Kaju Katli; Licence Suspended

Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration suspended the food business licence of Tewari Bros. Mithaiwala’s Charni Road outlet after a Mumbai customer said he found a rusted metal pin inside a piece of kaju katli, according to Indian Express and other local reports. Prannoy Palav said he bought a 500-gram box from the shop on July 29 and noticed the pin as he was about to feed one of the sweets to his three-year-old daughter. FDA officials later inspected the outlet, collected samples for laboratory testing and cited hygiene and sanitary lapses. The suspension has focused attention on how regulators are handling food-safety complaints against well-known retail sweet shops in Mumbai. ### Who made the complaint, and what did he say he found? Prannoy Palav said in an Instagram post on August 1 that he found a corroded metal pin embedded in one piece of kaju katli from the box he had purchased days earlier. He said he noticed it only by chance before giving the sweet to his daughter. (indianexpress.com) The Indian Express reported that Palav bought the sweets from Tewari Bros. Mithaiwala’s outlet opposite Opera House in Mumbai. In his account, he said the object appeared to be a rusted stapler pin or metal pin lodged inside the sweet rather than on the surface. ### What action did Maharashtra FDA take against the shop? (indianexpress.com) The Maharashtra FDA said it suspended the outlet’s FSSAI licence after inspecting the Charni Road premises following the complaint. Indian Express reported an FDA official as saying, “We have taken a sample for testing and suspended the licence.” (indianexpress.com) An August 4 FDA statement cited by Mid-Day said inspectors found violations of hygiene and sanitary requirements under Schedule 4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011. Mid-Day reported the suspension took effect immediately. (indianexpress.com) ### Did inspectors say the pin definitely came from the shop? FDA officials told Indian Express it was too early to conclude how the corroded pin entered the box. One official said the agency was still trying to determine how the object made its way into the sweets and added that investigators could not yet rule out other possibilities. (mid-day.com) That means the suspension, as reported, rests on both the consumer complaint and the inspection findings, while the specific origin of the metal object remains under investigation. That is an inference from the sequence described in the reports and the quoted FDA comments. ### What exactly did regulators inspect at the Charni Road outlet? (indianexpress.com) The Charni Road outlet was inspected after Palav returned with the box and filed a formal complaint, according to Indian Express. The report said officials found hygiene-related lapses during the inspection and took kaju katli samples for testing. (indianexpress.com) Mid-Day, citing an official FDA statement, said the violations involved hygiene and sanitary requirements prescribed under Schedule 4 of the 2011 licensing and registration regulations. The publicly available Maharashtra FDA website describes the agency as the state authority responsible for food safety and compliance. (indianexpress.com) ### Why has this complaint drawn wider attention in Mumbai? Tewari Bros. Mithaiwala is a well-known sweet shop in south Mumbai, and the allegation involved a sweet intended for a three-year-old child, details that gave the complaint wider traction in local coverage. Times of India and other outlets reported the case as part of a broader burst of food-safety enforcement activity by Maharashtra FDA. (mid-day.com) Times of India separately reported that the FDA had also suspended another licence in Mumbai over unrelated food-safety concerns, indicating the regulator was already conducting visible enforcement checks across the city. That broader context comes from the newspaper’s reporting, not from a formal statement tying the two cases together. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) ### What happens next for the shop and the complaint? Laboratory testing of the kaju katli samples is the next documented step in the case, according to Indian Express. The FDA’s investigation is also continuing into both the alleged foreign object and the sanitary conditions found during inspection. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) Any further regulatory action would likely depend on the sample results and the agency’s findings on compliance at the Charni Road outlet. As of the latest reports published on August 4 and August 5, the licence had been suspended with immediate effect and the inquiry was still underway. (mid-day.com) (indianexpress.com)