Mumbai, June 25 -- The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has launched a statewide drive to enforce food safety standards across Maharashtra, with inspections of eateries, cloud kitchens and other food service establishments to verify compliance with hygiene and food-handling norms. The campaign, titled 'Safe Food, Healthy Maharashtra', will cover all food service providers beyond/including the state's 1.2 million registered food service establishments. Officials will inspect facilities to ensure proper food storage, handling and cooking practices. "Either food service establishments register or they shut shop," FDA commissioner Tukaram Munde said. "Failure to follow would attract provisions of life imprisonment or penalty upto Rs.10 lakh." The enforcement drive follows repeated instances of food safety violations during inspections, including pest-infested kitchens, poor storage practices, reuse of cooking oil, untrained food handlers and denial of free drinking water to customers. Under the drive, all eating houses will be required to provide free drinking water and display notices in Marathi and English informing customers of the facility. The FDA clarified that bottled water may be offered as an option but cannot replace free drinking water. The rules will apply to restaurants, hotels, cafeterias, canteens, catering units, central kitchens, and others. Food establishments will be required to ensure annual health check-ups of food handlers, maintain personal hygiene standards and prohibit the use of gutka, tobacco and pan, as well as spitting, in food preparation areas. The FDA has also reiterated that food should not be packed in newspapers. Instead, establishments must use certified food-grade wrapping materials such as butter paper, parchment paper and food-safe containers. E-commerce platforms will have to ensure deliveries are made by trained personnel using tamper-proof, temperature-controlled packaging. Other practices include separate storage of raw and cooked food, use of colour-coded chopping boards for vegetarian and non-vegetarian food, and procurement of raw materials only from licensed suppliers....