Rava laddu or plastic? Advocate cries foul over inaction against More Supermarket in Malkajgiri

Hyderabad: Advocate B.V Seshagiri visited the More Supermarket in Madhura Nagar near Malkajgiri court in Medchal Malkajgiri on 16 May and purchased a 250 gm packet of Desi Foodees Sugar Rava Laddu. But to his dismay, it didn't taste like rava laddu. It tasted like plastic.

"I took a bite and it tasted like plastic. My daughter, even before taking a bite, said that it smelt of plastic," says Mr. Seshagiri. The manufacturing date on the packet showed 21 March and it said best before two months from the manufacturing date.

On 17 May, Mr. Seshagiri tweeted about the incident and tagged More Supermarket, FSSAI, and Medchal Malkajgiri collector. He wrote, "@moreretail Hypermarket Near Malkajgiri Court purchased Rava Laddu Sweet, to my dismay it was tasting/smelling plastic, I had to spit followed by vomiting. Non-food grade plastic packing Food Inspectors seize the contaminated food items. @fssaiindia @jagograhakjago @Collector_MDL."

He further wrote, "This is a new supermarket, More Hypermarket near Malkajgiri Court opened only a couple of days back, I thought everything would be fresh, got cheated."

On 19 May, he filed a complaint with J.S Madhavi, the assistant medical officer of health (AMOH), GHMC Malkajgiri. The AMOH said the case falls under the jurisdiction of the food inspector, GHMC, Malkajgiri. Later, food inspector Janga Reddy, through a message, informed the complainant that the store was inspected and the unfit products were destroyed. He also said that some of the food items were taken for lab testing and that a show cause notice will be served to the supermarket. NewsMeter has obtained a copy of that message.

However, when NewsMeter contacted Mr. Janga Reddy, he denied that some food items were destroyed and a show cause notice was issued to the supermarket. Instead, he said, "This is a newly-opened supermarket and there are many employees here. They strictly follow 'First In, First Out' (FIFO) and 'First Expired, First Out' (FEFO) rules and there are employees exclusively to monitor that these rules are followed. No violation as such has been found and we have not issued any show cause notice. Two of the food products in plastic packets have been sent for lab testing. Once the results come, we will decide the future course of action."

Mr. Seshagiri said after he gave the complaint, something conspired between the supermarket management and the food inspector and the latter was now denying the action that was taken before. He also said that he is going to file a complaint at the Rangareddy Consumer Forum on Monday and that he will go to any extent to fight corruption.