Rotten Food, Pests Found: Kolkata Civic Body Cancels 40 Restaurant Licences

(MENAFN- IANS) Kolkata, Sep 8 (IANS) The licenses of about 40 restaurants and food shops in Kolkata have been cancelled for failing food safety standards, said officials at Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Tuesday. The licenses of 'Karim's' on Ripon Street, 'Nizam's' next to the KMC headquarters, and 'Shimla Biryani' on the EM Bypass have been cancelled, officials added.

According to them, the license of an outlet of 'Arsalan' in Nagerbazar has also been cancelled. Several restaurants and food hotels in south Kolkata are also on the list. The decision to cancel the license of these restaurants were taken following a week-long drive by KMC and its Food Safety Department officials to check the quality of food, raw materials and overall condition of the food shops.

According to the official, in many places rotten food was found while evidence of mixing paint used on the walls of the house with biryani was also discovered. Somewhere fungus was found in the food while arachnids and rat nests were found in the food storage area.

For the past few days, raids have been going on in several restaurants, hotels, and food courts of shopping malls in Kolkata. The raids were conducted by the state health department and KMC officials. According to an official, 167 restaurants and food courts were raided in the last seven days. In total, 1,300 kg of food items have been destroyed, which were spoiled. The licenses of over 40 restaurants and food shops have been cancelled. There are several famous restaurants in that list. However, it is said that this license suspension is temporary. A workshop will be held tomorrow. Everyone will be given proper training there.

"The most common reason for license cancellation is preparing food in an unhygienic environment where cockroaches, rats, insects were found. Rotten food and raw materials were also found. Along with this, evidence of the use of colouring agents has been found in various places. Evidence of the use of carcinogenic substances used to paint walls has been detected in sweet shops, biryani restaurants and food hotels. Cases of using expired food and spices have also come to light," said the official.

Similarly, date was not even mentioned in the stored food in various places. Officials found evidence of the use of burnt oil.

State Food and Supplies Minister Ashok Kirtania targeted the previous Trinamool Congress government over all this menace. He said, "The previous government did not see these things. Our government is the people's government. We are responsible for the health and safety of the people. All departments have been told that the quality of food in all hotels and restaurants will have to be checked. The drinking water standards will also be checked."

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