Insects, cockroaches greet food safety officials during raid on popular eateries

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Food Safety Department raided famous mandi houses in the city. During the raid at the restaurants located in Banjara Hills and Khairtabad, the task force team found cockroaches, dead insects and several food safety violations.

The officials inspected the popular restaurants including Mandi 36 Arabian Kitchen in Banjara Hills, Mandi Town and Mandi King Royal in Khairatabad were found to be operating in highly unhygienic conditions, raising serious health concerns.

At Mandi Town, Khairatabad, the officers found live cockroach infestation in the kitchen by food inspectors and the refrigerator was found in a very unhygienic condition with spillage of meat waste and blood. The flooring was patchy and littered with food waste, and the kitchen was not equipped with drains to ensure proper cleaning.

Synthetic food colours were detected and later discarded, the drinking water tank was not cleaned properly, and dead insects were noticed in it. The food articles in the refrigerator were uncovered and unlabelled and raw meat like chicken, and mutton were found to be dumped in the refrigerator in an unhygienic manner which may cause contamination.

At Mandi King Royale, Khairatabad, the flooring in Kitchen and wash area was found to be patchy and littering of food waste at several places and the drains were clogged. Chimneys were found to be greasy and unclean. Iron knives were found to be used and rusty. The vegetarian and non-vegetarian food articles, raw and semi cooked food were stored together in some refrigerators.

Raw meat like chicken, and mutton were found to be dumped in the refrigerator in and unhygienic manner which may cause contamination. Refrigerators were found in unhygienic conditions and few shelves were broken. Due to no defrostation, water droplets were falling into the uncovered food articles, which may cause contamination.

At Mandi 36, Arabian Kitchen, Banjara Hills, the team found that the flooring was patchy, kitchen ceiling was dark and sooty, chimneys were greasy, dusty and unclean, exhaust were not fitted with mesh to prevent entry of insects, iron knives were found to be used in the kitchen, and the grilling pans were dark, greasy and unclean.