Chennai: The kitchen licence of popular food joint Murugan Idli Shop has been temporarily suspended after the restaurant failed to rectify the shortcomings cited by the food safety officials during an earlier visit. Food safety officials from Tiruvallur district cancelled the licence of the restaurant’s central kitchen, located in Ambattur Industrial Estate on Tuesday and an announcement regarding the suspension of license was displayed on the restaurant’s door.
The central kitchen supplies food to 23 other branches around the city.
In an earlier inspection conducted by the officials last month on August 7, the department had expressed concern over the unhygienic kitchen conditions. The officials had also pointed out 10 major defects in the working conditions of the kitchen including damaged flooring in the kitchen, improper temperature control of storage refrigerators and unclean washing area. Reportedly, the restaurant did not follow pest control methods and the medical certificates of the food handlers were also not submitted. Further, hair caps and hand gloves were also not provided to workers.
The food safety officials had then given a 50-day ultimatum to the restaurant to rectify the shortcomings.
However, the restaurant’s failure to respond to their notices prompted the officials to issue a showcause notice, which too was met with a similar response.
Following this, the officials temporarily suspended the kitchen licence of the restaurant. The restaurant can rectify the defects and can app-eal to revoke the suspension. Notably, the Parry’s outlet of the restaurant was in news lately after a customer found worms in his meals. He had then filed a complaint with the food safety department through their WhatsApp complaint number. However, a few branches of the shop were fully functional on Wednesday.
