HYDERABAD: The controversy over the safety of Kentucky Fried Chicken went up a notch on Thursday. In a day of high drama, political activists swarmed a popular outlet of the global fast food chain in Himayatnagar and tried to shut it down demanding that the government publicize the test report of the dozens of sam ples examined in a state lab.Angry activists of All India Youth Federation (AIYF) and All India Students' Federation (AISF) came to near blows with the police during the dharna.
"The food safety inspectors working in the GHMC are rarely seen in action.Why haven't they acted even after the State Food Laboratory (SFL) found harmful pathogens in KFC samples taken during an earlier inspection?" asked Usha Rani, state vice president of AIYF.She, along with dozens of supporters, was arrested by the Narayanguda police for staging the protest.
Earlier, the AIYF and AISF activists barged into the KFC outlet, which briefly downed its shutters between 11.30 am and 12.30 pm as a precautionary measure, witnesses and police said.Later, a huge police team intervened and whisked away the protestors to the Narayanguda police station.
The activists' grouse was the alleged failure of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to keep a tab on the quality of fast food being served at several outlets, especially in the wake of the SFL detecting presence of harmful pathogens - Salmonella and E. Coli - in the fried chicken samples from a KFC outlet on June 24.
However, KFC had debunked the findings, with a spokesman claiming there was no possibility of any microbial development in their food which is freshly cooked at 170 degrees Celsius. They also claimed that their ready-to-eat food was safe for children and adults and that there had been no complaint by consumers.
But the protestors wanted to know the results of the tests done on more KFC samples and were angry at the GHMC and the food safety department for not revealing the results of the tests conducted on 40 KFC samples lifted from over two dozen outlets in Hyderabad, Warangal and Karimnagar.
"The people have a right to know about the outcome of the tests as it deals with public health. It is strange that the SFL, Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) and the food safety department run secretly ," said Krishna Naik, AISF student council state member.
Meanwhile, when TOI sought comments, both GHMC's food safety officers and SFL food officials claimed ignorance about the outcome of the 40 KFC samples that were tested. While GHMC's designated food safety officer, Dr T Damodar, told TOI that they are yet to get a formal report from the SFL on the 40 samples, officials at SFL said they dispatched some reports to GHMC on Thursday.
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