Hyderabad: The commissioner for food safety's task force made an inspection of Halo Cocktail bar and kitchen at Jubilee Hills on Tuesday only to find expired food products like golden rings, Malabar parotta and bean sauce apart from expired semi-prepared food items inside the fridge.
The team members discarded the stale products immediately and other food ingredients like corn flour, vinegar, black pepper and tea powder were seized for not having proper labels.
In yet another violation, they found that vegetarian and non-vegetarian food was stored together.
Incidentally, while the outlet had the original copy of FSSAI license, they did not have medical fitness certificates of the food handlers.
Talking to Deccan Chronicle about the ongoing raids and violations of FSSAI guidelines, Venugopal, general secretary of Telangana State Hotels Association said, "We are happy that inspections are happening because it helps us create awareness about hygiene and food safety protocols. We have been duly following all guidelines in our hotels. But the only issue is that
these inspections take place at the busiest time of the day. The inspectors arrive around 12 pm to 1 pm, and while pointing out random violations, they catch the workers and owners off guard. Yes, there are some outlets that are not complying but a majority of them follow FSSAI guidelines. Most food is exhausted within the day in popular eateries. Those with deep freezers
storing meat need to be more cautious."
He said that the association has a membership of 6000 food outlets, including hotels, restaurants, bars, dhabas, canteens, juice centres and bakeries. He felt that at times the commissioner comes with private media channels to expose violations. This tarnishes the image of the restaurant, he said.
He also pointed out that no rules and regulations are followed by roadside vendors, who earn a lot of money.
"If not licences, they must be made to follow safety norms because they also deal with peoples lives," he said.
