If you haven’t visited the website dedicated to Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration yet, I urge you to check it out soon. It may be a lot to take in at first but, for anyone familiar with the ambitious manner in which the state government always functions, this shouldn’t be too much of a hassle. When you do, the banner on the home page — ‘Safe Food, Safe Drugs, Safe Maharashtra’ — will do much to reassure you that you live in a state that takes your health very seriously. Then, after you scroll past the photographs of a few of our many honourable ministers, you will see how this is being done on a regular basis, in keeping with the department’s mission.

I was compelled to visit its website after hearing that the licence of K Rustom & Co in Churchgate was suspended a couple of weeks ago. This was swiftly followed by action against a few other eating establishments, after inspections reportedly revealed serious hygiene and food safety violations. It reassured me that residents of Bombay would now have access to the best food and medicine, thanks to these tireless bureaucrats and officers. The website also informed me, via an introduction that had been published in July 2018, that the FDA was committed to ‘preventing the sale of substandard, misbranded, spurious, adulterated, or banned food and drug products.’ In other words, thanks to their work, eating whatever one likes without fear can now be taken for granted.