Hyderabad: Food safety violations were found at 46 establishments during a special enforcement drive across Telangana districts outside the Core Urban Region. Officials detected spoiled food, pest infestations, unhygienic conditions, poor storage practices and other violations during the inspections.
Food Safety Officers of the Telangana Standards Authority for Food and Essential Drugs, or TG SAFE, conducted the enforcement drive. The inspections covered restaurants, bakeries, dhabas, hotels, sweet shops and hostels.
Officials found spoiled meat and vegetables at some establishments. They also detected cockroach, housefly and rodent infestations during the inspections.
In addition, teams found unhygienic premises, poor record maintenance and improper food storage. Refrigerators at some establishments were unclean, while food segregation and labelling practices were inadequate.
Officials found improper segregation and labelling of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. They also detected expired food products and items affected by pests. The teams discarded such products on the spot.
Food safety violations prompt action against outlets
TG SAFE officials collected 22 food samples after suspecting possible adulteration. The samples were sent for further examination to determine whether they met prescribed food safety standards.
The authority said it would issue improvement notices to 23 establishments where food safety violations were detected. Officials would subsequently reinspect those establishments to verify whether they had complied with the directions.
TG SAFE also decided to suspend the FSSAI licences of three establishments. The authority directed them to stop operations immediately in the interest of public health.
The establishments were Mahendra Meals, Biryani and Curry Point at Station Ghanpur and Sri Balaji Magic Mithai at Baopet in Karimnagar. Cha Cha Family Dabha on NH-65 at Tupranpet, Choutuppal, in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district was the third establishment.
The authority said it would take further action based on findings from the inspections and laboratory examination of the samples.
TG SAFE officials also documented the enforcement drive through photographs and videos. The authority said the visual material from the inspections had been forwarded for publication.