FDA inspects Indira canteens in Bengaluru after ‘rats found’ in kitchens

The food safety and drug administration on Tuesday inspected the kitchens of Indira canteens in Bengaluru, days after cracking down on several star hotels and high-end restaurants in the city. One of the videos showed torn packaging for a food item.

(X/ @CitizenPulseX)Videos of the kitchens, which surfaced on social media, showed rats crawling through sacks of rice, with officials seen checking the items. One of the videos further showed torn packaging for a food item.

What Happened

The Indira canteens is one of the Congress-led Karnataka government's flagship initiatives which serves highly subsided food. The department warned of “strict legal action” against food business operators who were found violating food safety regulations.

• It was started by former chief minister Siddaramaiah during his previous stint from 2013 to 2018.

• The food safety department seized a total of over 132 kg of food items from five hotels, ranging from rotten chicken, beef, duck, fish to vegetables such as green peas, mushrooms, potatoes and more.

• The hotels from where these items were seized are — Hotel Sky in UB City, Royal Chain Hotel, Madras Kitchen, Tescon Hotel, and Senchez Hotel, ANI news agency reported.

Key Details

The food safety and drug administration conducted the searches at Indira canteens Gottigere, Lingarajapuram and Singasandr, according to the press release.

• The inspections at the Indira canteens came after checks the state's food safety department conducted checks at several hotels in Bengaluru and seized huge quantities of rotten meat and vegetables.

• These were sent to the designated food laboratory for analysis to assess their quality and compliance with prescribed food safety standards.

• It said that various samples of food products, including pulses, turmeric powder, cooking oil, jaggery, salt, sugar and other prepared food items, were collected from the three establishments during the inspections.

Why It Matters

The FSDA recommended the filing of cases before the respective Adjudicating Officers for further legal action according to the provisions of the law.

• “The warehouse of the Indira Canteen at Gottigere was sealed due to the unhygienic food handling and storage conditions observed during the inspection, in accordance with the applicable FSSAI provisions,” it said.

What Reports Say

Coverage of the story so far points to:

• Continued reporting by Hindustan Times as more details emerge