83 raids in 42 days: Telangana food safety team recorded lapses in 68 eateries in GHMC

Hyderabad: The task force team of the Telangana Commissioner of Food Safety inspected 83 restaurants and eateries in 42 days; inspections were held from April 16 to May 27. Beginning June 1, the department will be issuing fines to the places where violations were found.

Even the best restaurants in GHMC violated standards

From the total inspections, 68 eateries and restaurants were operating within the limits of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

Speaking to the NewsMeter, deputy food controller (Telangana) T Vijay Kumar said that after finding serious violations including eateries serving stale meat and vegetables and expired food to customers, the department had served notices to 58 restaurants operating under the GHMC limits.

Notices for failing to show licenses and keeping unhygienic conditions were also served to the other 10 businesses, he said.

These included well-known eateries like KFC, Paradise Food Court, Rameshwaram Cafe (Madhapur), Taaza (Medchal), Kritunga – The Palegar’s Cuisine Restaurant, train-themed restaurant (Kompally), Shah Ghouse, Kamat Hotel, Baahubali Kitchen, Master Chef, Rest’o’Bar (Somajiguda), Baskin Robbins, and Chicha’s Hyderabad Asli Khana (Masab Tank).

The inspections revealed that even some of Hyderabad’s best restaurants had flagrant violations of food safety regulations, including adulteration, illegal practices, unsafe food handling, inadequate regulatory compliance, outdated or unlabelled food items, heavily infested maida (refined wheat flour), stale meat and vegetables and eateries without medical fitness certificates.

The officials also looked into other sanitary issues, such as open windows and clogged drains in several eateries’ kitchen areas.

Inspections extended to other districts

Following directions from the Food Safety commissioner RV Karnan, the local food safety and zonal officers intensified their vigil in Khammam, Karimnagar, Medchal, Rangareddy and Bhadradri districts from May 26.

In the last two days, the officials have inspected 15 restaurants and eateries in the districts.

In Khammam, the officials destroyed synthetic colours in Haveli Westside and colour-coated and spoilt Tandoori Chicken in Rest Inn. While rat faeces were found in the storeroom of Prism Restaurant and Bar in Vatinagulapally, fungal-infested ice cream and rotten eggs stored in the refrigerator were found and discarded from Bhadrachalam’s townhouse restaurant.

‘New food safety commissioner took tip-offs from people seriously’

When asked if there was a reason why the department has increased the raids on eateries and restaurants throughout the state, Vijay Kumar said that the department had started this initiative ever since Karnan had taken over as Telangana’s Food Safety commissioner in March.

After the appointment, he was flooded with public grievances regarding substandard food and unclean conditions in dining establishments. Taking serious note of the matter, he formed a special taskforce comprising three members to enforce rules against diners and restaurants that were putting patrons’ lives in danger.

How does the special task force conduct raids?

Elaborating on the process of conducting raids, the deputy food controller said that the special task force teams in Hyderabad inspect at least four restaurants or eateries on average each day, depending on public complaints and tip-off information to the department.

“Samples from all outdated meat and vegetable stocks and subpar food items were collected and forwarded to the laboratory for analysis. Additional collectors in each district will serve notices and fine the individual restaurants based on the lab reports,” said Vijay Kumar.

After the lab reports are analysed, a fine of up to Rs 3 lakhs for eateries and restaurants with poor sanitary conditions and a fine of up to Rs 5 lakhs is served if subpar food and no or improper labelling is discovered on the premises, stated Vijay Kumar.

‘No restaurant/eatery has been seized so far’

When asked if the food department has seized or taken any related action on the restaurants raided so far, Vijay Kumar stated that up until now, the department had only taken samples and sent them to a laboratory for analysis; no action has been taken so far.

After reviewing the lab data, the additional collectors in the districts will start imposing fines on eateries and restaurants, beginning June 1, he added.