India Food Safety Fears Drive Homemade Trend
In her kitchen in New Delhi, 55-year-old Nirmal Rao carefully spreads boiled turmeric under the sun before grinding it into powder at home. Like many middle-class Indians, she has started preparing basic food ingredients herself because she no longer fully trusts products sold in local markets. “We shouldn’t have to do this, but it’s becoming difficult to trust what we buy,” she says while filling jars with homemade turmeric powder. Across several Indian cities, more families are quietly returning to traditional food preparation methods. Many now grind spices manually, make paneer at home, or purchase grains directly from farmers. The growing trend is largely driven by concerns over food safety and adulteration. Official figures indicate that between 2022 and 2025, nearly one out of every six food samples tested by authorities failed to meet safety standards. During the same period, […]
