BENGALURU: Inspection by Food Safety Officers on prominent star hotels in Bengaluru on Friday detected fungal growths on vegetables, unhygienic food handling and storage conditions, storage of expired food products, misbranding of food products among others and officials concerned seized and destroyed food articles before serving notices have been served on Food Business Operators.
The inspections were conducted at 26 three-star hotels and five-star hotels by 30 teams of Food Safety Officers to verify compliance with the provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011.
Officials in a press release stated to “initiate legal action wherever violations are detected.” Minister of Health and Family Welfare U.T. Khader told reporters earlier in the day “If big ones are checked, others will be on alert.”
The inspection at The Lalit Ashok (Annex South), officials seized 76 kg of meat and 200 kg of vegetables, besides, 32 litres of expired milk. At Shangri- La Bengaluru, officials seized 15 kg of meat and another 10 kg of meat was seized at Four Seasons Hotel Bengaluru.
The inspection at Vivanta Bengaluru Whitefield, officials seized and destroyed 3 kg of expired bakery products. The Taj Yeshwantpur inspected by officials seized and destroyed 72 kg of fish/meat and the Radisson Blu (The Atria), officials detected 105 kg of expired food articles, comprising 50 kg of chicken, 25 kg of meat, 23 kg of fish and 7 kg of vegetables were seized.
The inspection detected violations which are major including unhygienic conditions in kitchens and food storage areas, meat products not labelled in accordance with FSSAI requirements, storage of expired milk/bakery products, chicken, fish, meat and vegetables, failure to maintain separate storage for vegetarian and non-veg food items among others.
Food samples collected during the inspection such as tea powder, chicken , mutton, fish, edible oils, chilli powder, turmeric powder, tomato sauce, among other items have been subjected for lab tests.