Indore Food Safety Crackdown! Desi Masala Restaurant's Registration Suspended, 22 Samples Collected Across District

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The food safety officials suspended the registration of Sanchi Venus India Private Limited's Desi Masala restaurant at Race Course Road after the establishment failed to satisfactorily address deficiencies found during an inspection.

District food officer Manish Swami said that the restaurant was inspected on Sep 11, and a notice was issued asking the management to rectify the shortcomings.

However, the management did not satisfactorily address the shortcomings within the stipulated period. The response and documents submitted by the establishment also revealed food safety-related shortcomings.

Following this, registration authority officer Manoj Kumar Raghuvanshi suspended the restaurant's registration with immediate effect through an order dated Oct 15. The restaurant has been prohibited from conducting food business during the suspension period.

Meanwhile, the food safety administration conducted inspections and collected food samples from several establishments on Thursday and Friday.

In Manpur, officials inspected grocery shops and collected 10 samples of 'namkeen', turmeric powder, chilli powder, 'gulab jamun' mix, whole spices, tea, 'ajwain', ghee and flour from Suresh Chand and Brothers, Maheshwari Kirana and Rajesh Kirana.

Officials found coriander, chilli and turmeric being sold loose and advised traders to avoid selling food items in the open and follow food safety standards. Officials will send the samples to the state food testing laboratory in Bhopal. Further legal action will be taken based on the test reports.

In Ganesh Nagar, officials collected five samples of milk, ghee and 'paneer' from Sanwariya Dairy, Shri Dairy and Krishna Dairy. Officials also collected two samples of almonds and cashews from Natural Mewa in the Navlakha area for quality testing.

On Thursday, officials inspected Suruchi Foods Chatori at the food court of Treasure Island Mall. Officials collected five food samples and are issuing a notice seeking improved cleanliness standards.

The department also used its mobile food testing laboratory in Manpur to conduct rapid on-site tests of 25 samples of turmeric, chilli, coriander, oil and whole spices.

The initiative aimed to raise awareness of food quality and to preliminarily identify adulteration. As part of World Food Safety Day awareness activities, the department organised programmes for students, members of the public and others.