Why Tukaram Mundhe’s children were unhappy with his crackdown in Mumbai

A week after completing 100 days as Maharashtra FDA Commissioner, Tukaram Mundhe says food safety is a public health crisis that demands a more visible and assertive regulator. In an interview with The Indian Express, Tukaram Mundhe discusses his first 100 days, the FDA’s testing backlog, what needs to be punished, regulation of hospital consumables and pharmaceuticals, and his controversial push for healthier food in schools.

IE: The FDA was last widely noticed for action against JJ and Cadbury in 2004 05. What's different about your approach compared to how bureaucrats normally work, and why are you seen as an outlier? Tukaram Mundhe: It’s difficult for me to answer objectively since I’m an interested party.

But “outlier” can be positive or negative. You are outside the normal course of action, depending on the prism you use. Over time, we have started viewing public service through a lens of distrust. I believe we should instead look at it critically: applaud what is done right and punish what is done wrong.

Public service is a trust vested in us by the Constitution and the people. When we join the services, we take an oath to uphold constitutional values such as equality, fraternity, liberty and development. We have to act not only on the letter of the law but its spirit.

As a public servant, I ask myself daily: am I honest, transparent, responsible and accountable? Beyond being answerable to seniors and the government, I am answerable to my conscience. Have I made a difference in people’s lives, or made things worse?

IE: Civil servants are trained to be backroom men. The minister gets the mic, the officer gets the file. Your stint doesn't look like that — the press releases, the videos, the presser on a day the CM asked the state to stay indoors.

Is that a choice, and why? Tukaram Mundhe: It isn’t about being “front end” or “back end”; it is about the sector. Food and drugs are precious in everyone’s life, yet most people don’t know what “standard” or “safe” food means.

My press conferences and notes follow a deliberate strategy. It isn’t about publicity for Tukaram Mundhe, but about publicising rules and regulations. I hold a press conference when there is a compliance order to announce.

Take the balanced diet in schools order. The regulation already existed; I wasn’t creating something new, just reframing it so schools, parents, officers and the press could understand it. We cannot achieve food safety without public awareness and stakeholder compliance.

IE: Is the food sector's problem actually much bigger than what has come to light so far? Tukaram Mundhe: Absolutely. This is a huge public health crisis. The government and WHO have flagged it. At Independence, communicable diseases accounted for around 70 per cent of the disease burden.

Today, non-communicable diseases account for roughly 70 per cent. Two major contributors are food intake and medicines, particularly uncontrolled consumption of HFSS products. Population growth has driven demand, and supply has followed.

Maharashtra imports more than 1.5 crore eggs a day because local production does not meet demand. On milk, we say we produce around 1.8 to 2 crore litres a day, but our stated production does not match the state’s milking animal population.

So where is that milk coming from? This is not merely about food adulteration in hotels or milk products. It is a public health issue and, by extension, an issue of the health of the nation. The school order is only a beginning.

The momentum needs to build nationally. IE: Your balanced diet in schools order faced backlash. Did you anticipate it? Tukaram Mundhe: Yes. Even my children were unhappy for a day or two because they were being trolled at school.

But someone had to take the lead. I had anticipated the backlash and alerted them. I even offered to personally come and explain the order to their school, if needed. Almost every affected school has since changed its practices, and parents have responded positively.

Such short-term friction is part and parcel of the job.