'It cannot possibly be true!': Ratgate turns bitter as Baker Bonn blames AIIMS for live rodent found in its bread

After a live rat was found in a packet of bread at AIIMS, a blame game has begun between the bread manufacturer and the medical institute.

Despite being blacklisted by AIIMS for three years, the food company - Bonn Nutrients - remained unrepentant and sought to hold AIIMS responsible for the negligence. 

While the company denied receiving any notice from AIIMS about being banned for three years, it said the entire incident could be an act of sabotage or negligence on the part of the medical institute which it had tried to put on the food company. 

“We again wish to assure that the facts as alleged by AIIMS in their (show-cause) notice are imaginary and cannot be possible by any stretch of imagination. By the alleged incident, perhaps AIIMS has tried to shift its own faults and negligence or acts of sabotage by which a rat was claimed to be found in the sealed packaging,” a statement from Bonn Nutrients said on Wednesday. 

Reacting to the firm’s allegations, AIIMS medical superintendent Dr DK Sharma told Mail Today: “We have followed all the procedural guidelines required in such cases. Let the food company write to us, and then we will give them our reply.” 

On September 24, a notice was uploaded on the website of AIIMS mentioning the entire incident. The notice was also marked to Bonn Nutrients and said that a show cause notice was issued to the company on September 9. 

“A live rat was found on 29.07.2015 in the sealed packet of Brown-Hi Fibre Bread Slice manufactured by M/s Bonn Nutrients Pvt. Ltd and the company has failed to submit satisfactory reply to show cause notice dated 09.09.2015,” the notice said. 

On the other hand, the food company claimed: “On September 15, to our utter shock and surprise, a show cause notice dated September 9 was received from AIIMS, calling upon us to explain the alleged incident. The notice was well responded to on September 17 and it was brought to the notice of AIIMS that our manufacturing facility was ISO 22000:2005 certified and FSSAI-approved and the contract for pest control is being carried out by one of the most reputed pest control agencies of India,” the statement said. 

Mail Today on Monday was the first to report the incident, after which the Delhi government’s food department also took cognisance of the report and decided to intervene in the matter. 

“On Tuesday, we have asked the AIIMS authorities to submit us a report about the entire incident. They are yet to revert. If everything that has been reported by the medical institute turns out to be true, we will take stringent action against the food company,” Dr Mrinalini Darswal, commissioner, Department of Food Safety, told Mail Today.