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As Hyderabad reels under the pressures of increasingly deteriorating food safety standards, a recent inspection of restaurants and food outlets at the Sarath City Mall brought to light some serious issues. Led by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), a task force team of officials found violations in eateries like Firefly Restaurant, Taco Bell and Boiler Room Club, upon inspection. While concluding reports stated that Firefly restaurant violated hygiene and pest control related rules, they were also found to be in possession of 9,000 drinking water bottles which did not have a valid Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) license from the manufacturer.
In addition to this, the food chain Taco Bell was noted to have discrepancies with their oil management procedures as well as the documentation of the Total Plate Count (TPC) – which was only taken at the beginning and ending of each business day. This was considered to be a particularly unsafe food practice given that the weekend rush might result in eateries exceeding their permissible limit, diluting the quality of food served. Notices were also issues to the Boiler Room Club for violating food storage rules, as well as to the Airlive Pub where water bottles worth INR 68,400 were seized for being of sub-standard quality.
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In recent times, Hyderabad has ranked lowest on the food safety index for being the city with the lowest standards in terms of quality and hygiene. From contamination of spices to spotting fungus growth in packaged foods, the recent incident has been a reminder of a serious need to have vigilant rules that food services must adhere to. With a whopping total of 246 out of 291 cases of adulteration that have come to light from 19 major Indian cities, Hyderabad scored the highest when it came to a spike in cases that were reported.
