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Mumbai's not the only city facing crackdowns on beloved food outlets found to be operating unhygienically – and Kolkata residents, we have some not-so-tasty news for you. A city-wide food safety drive has put around 40 restaurants and eating joints on an indefinite pause, with their licences suspended.
This, of course, is a major development in the city ahead of Durga Puja, especially because several extremely popular eateries are facing action, including Don Giovanni, Balaram Mullick, Kurry Patta, Karim's, Nizam's, and more.
The crackdown was part of a week-long food safety drive, which found several violations related to food safety and hygiene, including pests, rotten food, expired products, and more. It wasn't just restaurants under the scanner – the drive extended to hotels, clubs, markets, and bazaars. At each of the places, kitchens and storage facilities were inspected.
What’s shutting down?
The crackdown covered a total of 162 restaurants, eateries and sweet shops across Kolkata and its surrounding areas, under the ongoing Special Food Safety Week drive, launched by the Kolkata Municipal Council on September 1.
Some big names have also made it to the list: the 94-year-old Nizam’s, Shimla Biryani on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, an outlet of Kareem’s on Ripon Street, an Arsalan outlet in Nagerbazar, Don Giovanni’s, Balaram Mullick and Radharaman Mullick, Sri Hari and several others.
What did the inspections find?
According to officials from the state health department and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, hygiene (or the lack of it) was the real culprit.
Inspections found kitchens in many of these establishments in squalid conditions. Food samples from some biryani outlets allegedly revealed colours unsuitable for consumption, while stale and even mouldy ingredients were reportedly found. Storage areas, meanwhile, were reportedly playing host to insects and rats.
And that’s not all. Inspectors also found ingredients, including spices, being used after their expiry dates. Some restaurants were allegedly reusing cooking and frying oil more than three times, in violation of health department regulations.
Over at the sweet shops, officials also reported particularly poor hygiene at several establishments.
Sorry, but there’s more. On Monday this week, more than 10kg of meat was seized and destroyed in Gariahat after being deemed unfit for consumption. In Bowbazar’s Chhana Patti, officials seized another six kilograms of cottage cheese and five kilograms of khoya, which were also allegedly found unfit for consumption. Meanwhile, in Burrabazar’s Posta, spice sellers were found stocking products without mandatory expiry dates on packaging.
'The experience was an eye-opening one. We had to serve show-cause notices to 89 establishments, notices under Section 38 of the Food Safety and Standards Act to 112 establishments, and suspension notices to 40,' Kolkata Municipal Corporation administrator Smita Pandey said at a press conference on Tuesday.
What’s the plan now?
The Kolkata municipality has issued a pre-Puja warning: 'Durga Puja is around the corner. We hope they will perform better and we will get better service,' Pandey said. Restaurants and eateries that have faced action till now will have to attend a workshop on food safety guidelines.
Next on the agenda is testing the bottled water supplied by hotels and restaurants. Those that pass will be allowed to operate, while others could be asked to shut down.
So, dear restaurants, even if your biryani is indulgent and your mishti dahi is decadent, your kitchen better be clean.