Kolkata, Sept. 2 -- KMC Food Safety officials unearthed around 500kg of stale, expired and unlabelled meat, fish and prawns during a surprise raid at Big Boss Restaurant in Tangra's Chinatown on Wednesday. With no date or tracking labels, the stock was seized and hauled to Dhapa for disposal.
"Most fish, meat and prawns recovered from the refrigerator had no date of purchase or storage. Since there could be no compromise on food safety, we seized them," an official said.
The inspection also revealed unhygienic kitchen conditions, with some meat and fish apparently stored for a prolonged period and kept in the open. Several items were found rotten, the official said.
Repeated attempts to contact the restaurant management for a response were unsuccessful. Staff members declined to comment, citing the absence of management personnel.
In a separate drive, food safety officers accompanied by Enforcement Branch personnel of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate inspected several hotels and restaurants. No hygiene violations were found at the establishments checked, sources said.
In Hooghly's Bhadreswar, however, a bakery on GT Road was reportedly ordered to suspend production after inspectors found cockroaches crawling over flour piles and rotten eggs being used in cake batter.
At a hotel in Dadpur, inspectors found rotten meat packed in plastic packets inside a refrigerator, with blood traces visible in some packets. The hotel authorities claimed the meat had been purchased two days earlier but failed to produce a receipt to substantiate the claim.
Meanwhile, in Burdwan, authorities intercepted consignments of adulterated ghee, contaminated paneer and unsafe ice cream allegedly headed for wholesale markets.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.