Hyderabad: Popular Secunderabad sweet shop Dadus Mithai Vatika has been accused of causing food poisoning by selling sweets past their expiry date. In a complaint filed with the Hyderabad consumer forum, Adilabad resident Kamal Kishore has stated that he bought various sweets from the Secunderabad outlet for his daughter’s engagement ceremony on February 9, 2016, at a total cost of Rs 6,000.
However, when the sweets were consumed on February 10, the complainant and his family suffered from vomiting, diarrhoea, and fever. Checking the food, the family found that a sticker bearing a different expiry date had been placed on top of the original expiry date of one particular item, which was supposed to have expired on January 27.
Kishore has stated in his claim that he had to buy fresh food from Adilabad for the ceremony, which costed him around Rs 10,000. He has also claimed that his reputation was tarnished by the incident and that the sweet shop failed to respond to any of his complaints.
A representative of Dadu’s Mithai Vatika said sweets from the shop are bought not only by individual buyers but also by corporate companies, state government offices, and others. He added that no other customer who purchased the offending item during the same period complained of health problems, and denied tampering with the sticker on the package.
The consumer forum has ruled that since the State Food Laboratory showed that the item in question contained ‘pathogen salmonella’, which was injurious to health, its sale to the complainant, claiming that it was fresh and not hazardous to health, was an unfair trade practice and showed deficiency of service. the sweet shop has been directed to pay Rs 5,860 as the cost of sweets purchased, Rs 9,560 for additional purchases in Adilabad, Rs 15,000 as medical expenses, and a compensation of Rs 30,000, with Rs 5,000 as costs.
