Prateek Tanmay
3 min readMumbaiJul 17, 2026 12:12 AM IST
South Mumbai’s Marine Lines-based 110-year-old Parsi Dairy Farm’s FSSAI licence was suspended with immediate effect after an inspection by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed multiple serious lapses relating to food safety and hygiene on July 14.
As per the press note, the inspection conducted by food safety officers on July 14, found fungal growth on walls of the storage and production areas, raw material stored directly on the floor next to fungus-affected walls, and no protected Raw Milk Reception Dock for receiving raw milk.
Officers also flagged a large presence of flies, absence of pest and rodent control nets, no effluent treatment plant, incomplete medical records for food-handling staff, and missing “best before/use by/date of expiry” information on several items. The lapses, the FDA said, could lead to “microbiological contamination of food and pose a serious health risk to consumers”.
These constitute violations of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and the Food Business Licensing and Registration Regulations, 2011. Based on the inspection report, the designated officer and assistant commissioner (Food), Division-1, issued a license suspension order on Wednesday, July 15. During the suspension, the establishment is barred from manufacturing, storing, selling, or distributing food items, and any violation will invite legal action.
Established in 1916 when 18-year-old Nariman Ardeshir began this dairy with a single can of milk, Parsi Dairy Farm today spans 300 acres of farmland catering to the growing demand, and is run by the fourth generation — Parvana S Mistry, an alumna of Le Cordon Bleu, London, her sister Zeenia K Patel, and their cousins Sarfaraz and Bakhtyar K Irani. In 2023, the family rebranded the dairy in a bid to draw new customers while keeping regulars feeling at home.
“The products are still the same, the recipes remain intact and so do the ingredients. Our sutarfeni is still handcrafted, our ghee is golden and danedar and we still hand-churn our malai,” Parvana S Mistry had told us then. Since then, the brand has expanded both online and offline, with physical stores in Ghatkopar and Borivali and a presence across several retail platforms.
On Thursday, the FDA extended its action to Parsi Dairy Farm Pvt Ltd’s Palghar branch, which is involved in production of their material, taking eight samples — Cooking Desi Cow Butter, Malai Paneer, Colostrum, Figs, Malai Kulfi, Sweet Mawa, Cow Ghee, and Buffalo Ghee — for analysis.
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Officers seized Cooking Desi Cow Butter (5,999 kg, worth Rs 31 lakh), loose paneer (7.5 kg, worth Rs 5,700), and unlabelled colostrum (87 kg, worth Rs 93,960) — a total stock worth Rs 32 lakh on suspicion of misbranding and substandard quality.
The Parsi Dairy Farm cases were part of a wider state-wide inspection drive targeting milk and milk products. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, FDA seized 2,317 litres of milk, 30 litres of refined edible oil used for adulteration, and 6,849.25 kg of milk-product stock, together worth Rs 45.78 lakh.
