A special food safety inspection in Bengaluru has uncovered several violations at some of the city’s three-star and five-star hotels. Officials found fungal growth on vegetables, expired milk, old food products and unhygienic storage conditions during the inspections.
The Food Safety and Drug Administration Department inspected 26 hotels across Bengaluru on Friday, August 7. A total of 30 teams of food safety officers carried out inspections across all zones under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
Expired Food and Poor Storage Found
During the inspections, officials found several food safety problems in hotel kitchens and storage areas. These included expired food products, poor hygiene and improper storage of food.
Vegetables and other food items with fungal growth were also found. A video shared by news agency ANI showed kitchen staff at one hotel apologising before throwing a tray of baked food items into a garbage bin.
Officials also found that some hotels were not storing vegetarian and non-vegetarian food separately. Problems related to food labelling, misbranding and mandatory Food Safety and Standards Authority of India labelling rules were also detected.
Expired milk, dairy products and bakery items were found along with stored chicken, fish, meat and vegetables.
Large Quantity of Food Seized
Several five-star hotels were among those where officials seized food products.
At The Lalit Ashok (Annex South), officials seized 76 kg of meat and 200 kg of vegetables. They also destroyed 32 litres of expired milk.
At Shangri-La Bengaluru, officials seized 15 kg of meat, while 19 kg of meat was seized from Four Seasons Hotel Bengaluru.
At Vivanta Bengaluru Whitefield, officials seized 3 kg of expired bakery products, while 72 kg of meat was seized from Taj Yeshwantpur.
The biggest seizure was reported at The Radisson Blu (The Atria), where officials seized 105 kg of expired food products. This included 50 kg of chicken, 23 kg of meat, 7 kg of fish and 25 kg of vegetables.
35 Food Samples Sent for Testing
Officials collected a total of 35 food samples during the inspection drive and sent them to the Food Laboratory for testing.
The samples included chicken, mutton, fish, milk, cheese, edible oil, tea powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, tomato sauce, lemon juice, papad, cashew nuts, ginger, pepper powder and other spices.
The department has issued notices to the hotels over the violations. Further action will be taken based on the laboratory reports and applicable laws.
The inspections in Bengaluru come as food safety authorities in Maharashtra have also been taking action against restaurants and clubs. In recent weeks, the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration has suspended food licences of several establishments in Mumbai after inspections found problems including pests and expired food.
