23 September,2026 07:28 AM IST | Mumbai | Abhitash Singh
The kitchen at the FDA headquarters
The canteen at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters has gone from serving full meals to largely serving tea, coffee, packaged biscuits, and omelette-pav for staff, with the contractor attributing the change to falling demand and a smaller workforce after COVID.
Once a regular breakfast and lunch stop, the canteen served idli, medu vada, dosa and poha, along with rice, dal, and bhaji. "After COVID, very few people started ordering food, so it became difficult to continue with so many items," the contractor said.
The canteen at the FDA headquarters. Pics/Abhitash Singh
The contractor said the headquarters once had around 60 to 70 employees, but several have since retired. Laboratory staff were also regular customers and would place meal orders, but those orders have fallen considerably. With fewer customers, the contractor said, maintaining a larger menu was no longer viable.
Former FDA Commissioner Rajesh Narvekar said the canteen was serving only tea, coffee, and biscuits even during his tenure. That suggests the pared-down menu may predate the latest decline in demand, although the contractor attributes the reduction in food orders to the post-COVID period.
Mainstay: Tea and coffee
Snack: Packaged biscuits
Still available: Omelette-pav for internal staff
Discontinued: Samosas
The canteen's shrinking menu reflects a change in its customer base, according to the contractor, from a workplace where staff regularly stopped for breakfast and lunch to one where fewer employees now buy full meals. For an agency tasked with regulating food safety across the state, its own canteen now has a notably lean menu.
Earlier menu
>> Idli and medu vada
>> Dosa and poha
>> Rice, dal and bhaji
Now
>> Tea , Coffee
>> Packaged biscuits
>> Omelette-pav for staff
Samosas, which were available until a few months ago, have also been discontinued.
