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In a statewide enforcement drive by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on July 7 and July 8, several eateries in the state have lost their food business licences. Sadly among the lot is K Rustom & Co, a legendary ice cream parlour that even multi-award-winning chef Gaggan Anand swears by.
Best known for their ice-cream sandwiches, which have earned spots in global rankings, K Rustom has been around for seven decades, which means that this is a fairly big hit for nostalgic Mumbaikars.
What happened?
The drive conducted under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 found that the establishment allegedly violated various hygiene norms, with live rats and houseflies allegedly found inside the premises. The cold chain storage norms were also in violation. The team found mandatory records missing and found expired food products at the Churchgate outlet. The officials have also collected ice-cream samples for lab testing.
As a result, the old-school Iranian ice-cream parlour was forced shut because the department suspended their food business licence until further notice. The licence will be reinstated only after the establishment complies with food safety norms, and that could take a while.
When did K Rustom & Co. start selling ice creams?
Where the present outlet stands at Veer Nariman Road, opposite Ambassador Hotel, once stood a department store where Khodabux Rustom Irani and family would sell medicines, cotton, wool, etc. In 1953, they started selling homemade ice creams. In their initial days, they used to sell them on pretty-looking porcelain plates, which people used to steal. So, as a fix, they started sandwiching the ice cream between two wafers. That ingenuity led to the iconic ice cream sandwiches available in various flavours.
Oh, well. At least Mumbai’s frozen dessert scene will never run out of options.