Stale meat seized from a Barbeque restaurant in Vizag

Food safety officials, on Thursday, conducted raids at Barbeque Nation in Vizag. During the raids, the officials reportedly found that the well-known restaurant had close to 40 kg of stale meat and fish ready to be served.

Upon examining the restaurant, the officials found that fish fry, mutton curry, and chicken, cooked a few days ago, were stored in the kitchen. Stale curries were also found in the refrigerator stored for later use. Speaking to a TV channel, a food safety official said that upon raiding the restaurant this morning, they found several food items stored in a deep freezer. “While a dish typically needs to be prepared just an hour or two before being served, it has been noticed that a few dishes here were prepared a day earlier. All such items have been removed from the storage and will be discarded.” As per reports, the officials have collected samples from Barbeque Nation in Vizag and sent them to the laboratory for further testing.

The official from the food safety wing advised citizens to keep a check on the hygienic condition of restaurants before visiting them. He further asked people to keep a close eye on the quality of food being served.

With several restaurants reopening doors after lockdown, food safety officials have been cracking the whip on those serving stale and expired food to customers. It may be noted that raids were recently conducted at the Vijayawada branch of the same hotel.

Last year, officials of the vigilance and enforcement department and food safety wing conducted raids on several prominent restaurants in Vizag.