Srinagar, Sep 30: Jammu and Kashmir recorded 1,211 cases of food adulteration during the financial year 2025-26, including 485 cases in Kashmir Division, according to a reply by the Health and Medical Education Ministry in the Legislative Assembly.
The government informed the House that multiple cases of food adulteration, including those relating to the sale or supply of unsafe or substandard meat, were filed across the Union Territory during the year under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and the rules and regulations framed under the law.
The figures were provided in response to a starred Assembly question tabled by MLA Javaid Riyaz regarding food adulteration and the sale of rotten meat.
Of the 485 cases filed in Kashmir Division during 2025-26, 154 cases related to meat and meat products, the government said.
Of the 154 meat and meat product cases, 120 had been decided, while 34 cases were pending. Authorities imposed fines totalling Rs 30.12 lakh in the cases that had been decided, according to the reply.
The government also provided figures for food adulteration cases across the Union Territory.
A total of 1,211 cases were filed across Jammu and Kashmir during 2025-26, while 1,721 cases were shown as decided and 2,733 cases remained pending. Fines totalling Rs 1.70 crore were imposed across the Union Territory.
In Kashmir Division, 1,188 cases were shown as decided, with fines of Rs 1.24 crore imposed, while 1,021 cases were pending.
The government clarified that the number of cases shown as decided includes cases carried forward from preceding financial years.
This means the 1,721 cases decided across the Union Territory and 1,188 cases decided in Kashmir cannot be treated as cases filed and disposed of exclusively during 2025-26.
The department said the cases relating to unsafe or substandard meat were registered before the competent courts under the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and the rules and regulations made under it.
The Assembly question specifically sought details on whether cases of food adulteration, particularly the sale or supply of rotten or unfit meat, had been registered during 2025-26, with special reference to Kashmir Province.
The government’s response confirmed that such cases had been registered, but the data provided did not give a separate number specifically for cases involving rotten meat. Instead, the department provided the broader figure of 154 cases concerning meat and meat products in Kashmir Division.
The data also showed that meat and meat product cases accounted for about one-third of the 485 food adulteration cases filed in Kashmir during the financial year.
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