Raids Reveal Expired Food, Cockroaches And Fungi In Karachi Bakery And Other Popular Telangana Eateries

Food safety officials in Telangana raided outlets of popular eateries such as Karachi Bakery and Bilal Ice Cream and seized expired food from the outlets. The action comes days after popular brands like MDH, Nestle India Ltd. and Everest have come under the scanner of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India for alleged high levels of pesticides.

The Food Safety Commissioner for Telangana officials also raided other markets and restaurants where they found food unfit for human consumption.

The officials, while conducting an inspection in the Himayatnagar area, found expired cheese, syrup, sandwich breads and brown sugar in Clove Vegetarian Fine Dine. According to a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, they also found live cockroaches in the ice cream storage unit and carrots infested with fungi.

Officials have issued a notice to the restaurant and said that an adjudication case will be filed.

The food safety officials also found issues with the items being sold in the outlets in the Mozzam Jahi Market area of Hyderabad.

Hyderabad's popular Karachi Bakery, which has been operating here since the 1950s, had expired stocks of rusks, candy, biscuits, chocolate cakes, toast and buns worth Rs 5,200, said the Food Safety Commissioner for Telangana in a post on Saturday. These items were later discarded. In addition, the use-by dates were not displayed on the pastries and cakes, which is in violation of the FSSAI regulations.

The post on X also said there were multiple unlabeled products in violation of the FSSAI Act.

While inspecting the outlet of Bilal Ice Cream in the market, officials found that the store and its manufacturing unit didn't have valid registrations and licenses. Officials, who found fake branded water bottles at the site, said a notice has been issued and action will be taken against the shop.

The next outlet under the scanner was Cream Stone, which had expired strawberry paste that had to be discarded. They also had cakes and pastries without any use-by dates. Officials issued a notice to the store as well.

In April, officials conducted an inspection at the Firefly Restaurant, where they found and seized water bottles worth Rs 9,000 for not possessing a valid Bureau of Indian Standards license from the manufacturer.