Bengaluru Food safety drive: Star hotels, including famous international food giant McDonald’s, served notice

Renowned food giants in Karnataka are under scrutiny as Karnataka food safety officials have been raiding five-star hotels and local food vendors. During a three-day inspection drive that concluded on August 9th, 60-star hotels in Bengaluru were raided, and nearly one tonne of expired or rotten food was seized.

During the inspection drive on 3- and 5-star hotels in the Bengaluru urban district, the operation, which included 30 teams from the Karnataka Food Safety and Drug Administration (KFSDA), collected 77 food samples and forwarded them to laboratories to assess their quality and compliance with food safety standards.

The teams served notice to famous junk food brand McDonald’s on the Brigade Road after it was found using banned magnesium sulfate to treat frying oil.
Interacting with the media, Srinivas K, Commissioner KFSDA, said the matter will be examined under the prevailing food safety regulations and other applicable legal provisions, and necessary further action will be taken based on the findings.

Samples of chicken, meat, fish, bread, mayonnaise, cooking oil, fresh oil, curd, pulses, chickpeas, coriander, chutneys and marinated food products from star hotels were also forwarded to the laboratories.

Nearly 640 kgs of expired and improperly stored non-veg and 276 kgs of rotten vegetables, along with 45 liters of expired dairy products, 12 kgs of stale bakery products including cakes, and expired or mislabeled 67 kgs of cereals and other food products, were seized during the raid. As part of the drive, Hotel Skye and; Pegs and Bottles on Church Street, Bengaluru, has been sealed for allegedly storing expired food items. The seized items were subsequently disposed in accordance with the applicable procedures.

Srinivas further added that special inspections were also conducted at various international food business chains operating with Greater Bengaluru area like those of KFC, McDonald’s and Subway, where food samples have been collected and sent to laboratories. The food warehouses of these international food businesses were also inspected.