Mumbai: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has served improvement notices to 137 eateries, warning them to comply with hygiene norms in 15 days else their licenses will be suspended or cancelled as per the provisions. Nine establishments were shut early this month after getting stop work notices.
In another shocking discovery, it was found that several high-end hotels were not adhering to standards. Violations relating to non-updation of pest control records, medical fitness certificates and auditing records were observed in most of the restaurants, said a food safety inspector.
15 eateries have been asked to shut their operations
In the past two months, the FDA inspected 152 eateries across Mumbai. Of them, 15 have been asked to shut their operations due to reasons like lack of cleanliness, absence of licenses, among others. FDA Joint Commissioner (Food) Shailesh Adhao said that all these inspections were routine, however, FDA Commissioner Abhimanyu Kale instructed to conduct a special drive on high-ends hotels. The license of food business operators (FBO) will be suspended if they are not complying with the improvement notice. After suspension, the license will be cancelled if the FBO doesn't give a satisfactory reply to the show cause notice, said Adhao.
“We have collected a fine of ₹1.7 lakh from eateries (which violated norms). During the special drive conducted on October 6, we noticed that high-ends restaurants or hotels have been flouting basic norms including dirty kitchen, lack of cleanliness, stale foods, dustbin without lid, etc,” said Adhao. Moreover, the employees didn't have fitness certificates and were also found working with eating gloves and caps; which clearly shows that food business operators (FBO) were flouting norms without any fear, he added.
Stop work notice to Bademiya’s three outlets
The FDA swung into action mode after a bank executive filed a police complaint when he found a rat in his dish at Papa Pancho Da Dhaba in Bandra. This led to the arrest of the restaurant’s manager and two cooks. In September, the FDA had issued a stop work notice to Bademiya’s three outlets after they found food licenses missing.
The authority shut several eateries this month, including Cou Cou By Oberoi, the French-style patisserie at BKC’s Jio World Drive, Banana Leaf at Matunga, New York Burrito in Kandivali West, Hotel Highway Inn in Andheri East, Coffee Global Limited in Vile Parle, Rajlaxmi Restaurant in Kanjurmarg West, Circle Cafe in Malad West, Baani Enterprises(Mumbai Bites) in Ghatkopar East, Madina Sharif Hotel in Maulana Shaukat Ali road and VRB Tasty Parota Corner in Dharavi. The FPJ tried calling Cou Cou by Oberoi, but it was unavailable for comments.
