Restaurants found serving stale food

Vigilance teams examining the food the chicken used for cooking at a restaurant, in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. 

Vigilance teams collect samples

A team of officials of Vigilance and Enforcement Department and Food Safety Wing of the GVMC registered cases against two restaurants in the city on the charges of serving stale food to the customers and not maintaining hygiene on their premises.

The officials raided the restaurants on Beach Road and in Dabagardens area on Thursday and found that leftover food was being stored in refrigerators and served to the customers the next day. The kitchens were also reeked of poor sanitation, the officials said.

Acting on tip-offs, the three teams of officials led by vigilance SP D. Koteswara Rao conducted the raids. They said that huge quantities of leftover and stale food including biryani, white rice, chicken, fish, prawns and a few other dishes were found to be stored in refrigerators.

Poor sanitation

“Some dishes were found to be stored in freezers for more than three days. We also found rotten vegetables being used for cooking. Freezers and kitchens were badly maintained,” Vigilance & Enforcement Inspector R. Mallikarjuna Rao said.

The teams, he said, collected samples for further analysis and destroyed the stale food.

“Cases have been registered under the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act. The raids will continue,” Mr. Koteswara Rao said and asked all the restaurant owners to maitain sanitation.

Vigilance DSP P.M. Naidu, Inspectors N. Srinivasa Rao, B. Narimani, Food Safety Inspector G.V. Apparao took part in the raids.