TG SAFE in Action, Suspends licences of Four Dark Stores Over Food Safety Violations
The raids were supervised by assistant director M. Aravind Kumar. Samples were lifted for analysis: Reports
Hyderabad: Food safety officials of the Telangana Standards Authority for Food and Essential Drugs (TG SAFE) have suspended four licences, including of one store each of Zepto and Blinkit, and directed the establishments concerned to immediately discontinue business operations, following inspections of dark stores in Hyderabad.
The action came after TG SAFE enforcement teams found multiple food safety violations, including expired food products, poor hygiene, pest and rodent infestation, and spoiled vegetables with fungal growth, during inspections of dark stores operated by Zepto, Blinkit and BigBasket. Ten enforcement wing (EW) teams consisting of food safety officers and police personnel inspected 29 dark stores in the twin cities and the Core Urban Region (CURE region) as part of a special enforcement drive, TG SAFE joint commissioner G. Ranadhan said.
Officials detected violations related to hygiene, handling and storage of food articles, as well as non-compliance with food labelling and display regulations. The teams also found expired food articles and vegetables affected by fungal infestation at some of the stores. Apart from suspending four licences, TG SAFE issued 12 improvement notices and nine show-cause notices to establishments where violations were detected.
The enforcement teams also collected 29 food samples on suspicion of adulteration and sent them for further examination. Action will be taken based on the findings of the sample analysis and compliance by the establishments.
The raids and inspections were carried out at dark stores in Jubilee Hills, Krishnanagar, Yousufguda and other locations. “We will be carrying out further raids,” according to Anand Rao, TG-SAFE officer.
