H-FAST Busts Food Adulteration Racket in Old City, 3 Held
The inspections were carried out at Al-Madina Chinese Fast Food Center and Omer Chinese Fast Food Center at Chandrayangutta, in coordination with the GHMC's Food Safety Officer
Hyderabad: Hyderabad Food Adulteration Surveillance Team (H-FAST) arrested three persons on charges of indulging in food adulteration in their eateries in the old city.
The Hyderabad Police Commissioner's Task Force, under the H-FAST, conducted a special enforcement drive at fast food centres in Chandrayangutta to curb food adulteration, enforce food safety regulations and safeguard public health.
The inspections were carried out at Al-Madina Chinese Fast Food Center and Omer Chinese Fast Food Center at Chandrayangutta, in coordination with the Food Safety Officer, GHMC.
The H-FAST team found that the food was prepared under highly unhygienic conditions, using reused cooking oil and artificial food colours. The team also detected non-maintenance of pest control records and absence of water analysis certificates.
The staff failed to maintain prescribed food hygiene standards apart from indulging in unsafe food handling practices posing a risk to public health. The team seized 20 litres reused cooking oil in addition to 10 litres fresking cooking oil, 40 kgs each fried and raw chicken, half a dozen packets of artificial and synthetic food colours.
During the operations, two cases were registered and three persons were apprehended, according to Task Force Deputy Commissioner of Police, Gaikwad Vaibhav Raghunath.
In an advisory, the police advised the public to avoid consuming food from unhygienic or unlicensed establishments. Consumers should verify the FSSAI licence, manufacturing and expiry dates, and proper labelling before purchasing food products. Information regarding food adulteration or unhygienic food practices may be reported to H-FAST Toll-Free No. 8712661212 for prompt action.