Bengaluru food safety raids uncover expired milk, fungal vegetables and 300+ kg of unsafe food

Bengaluru: Food safety officials in Bengaluru have uncovered a range of violations, including expired milk, fungal growth on vegetables, improper storage and expired food products, during a special inspection drive across the city.

The Food Safety and Drugs Administration Department conducted inspections at food storage and distribution facilities as well as 26 three-star and five-star hotels across Bengaluru.

The inspections were carried out on August 7 by 30 teams comprising Designated Officers and Food Safety Officers. The drive covered Bengaluru Urban district and all zones under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

The department said the drive was conducted following directions from Karnataka Health Minister U T Khader.

What officials found

Officials reported several food safety and hygiene violations at the hotels and storage facilities inspected.

These included:

• Expired milk and other dairy products.
• Expired bakery items.
• Fungal growth on vegetables and food articles.
• Poor hygiene in kitchens and storage areas.
• Improper storage of food.
• Failure to keep vegetarian and non-vegetarian food separately.
• Improper labelling and food misbranding.
• Violations of mandatory food labelling requirements.
• Expired chicken, fish, meat and vegetables were also found during the inspections.

Large quantities of food seized

At several hotels, officials seized substantial quantities of meat, vegetables and other food products.

At The Lalit Ashok (Annex South), 76 kg of meat and 200 kg of vegetables were seized. Officials also seized and destroyed 32 litres of expired milk.

At Shangri-La Bengaluru, 15 kg of meat was seized, while 19 kg of meat was seized at Four Seasons Hotel Bengaluru.

Officials also seized 3 kg of expired bakery products at Vivanta Bengaluru Whitefield and 72 kg of meat at Taj Yeshwantpur.

The largest reported seizure came from The Radisson Blu (The Atria), where officials seized 105 kg of expired food products. The seizure included 50 kg of chicken, 23 kg of meat, 7 kg of fish and 25 kg of vegetables.

Sauces and beverages also seized

Separately, inspections at two private food storage and distribution facilities found around 70 kg of soy sauce and other sauces nearing their expiry dates.

Officials also seized around 10 litres of beverages, including strawberry-flavoured drinks and other beverages nearing expiry.

Five meat samples and 13 other food samples were collected from these facilities and sent for laboratory analysis.

35 samples sent for testing

Across the hotel inspections, officials collected 35 food samples and sent them to the Food Laboratory for analysis.

The samples included tea powder, chicken, mutton, fish, edible oil, chilli powder, turmeric powder, tomato sauce, lemon juice, cheese, papad, cashew nuts, ginger, pepper powder, spice powder and milk.

Officials said notices were issued to hotels where violations were found.

Further action will depend on the laboratory reports and the applicable provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Rules, 2011.

Legal action likely

The Food Safety and Drugs Administration Department said appropriate legal action would be initiated against food business operators found violating food safety and quality requirements.

The Bengaluru drive comes amid increased scrutiny of food safety practices at restaurants, hotels and other food businesses in several parts of India.

The findings highlight concerns beyond individual expired products, including kitchen hygiene, storage practices, food segregation, labelling and the handling of perishable items.

The laboratory analysis of the collected samples will determine whether further regulatory action is required in individual cases.