Stale food seized during raids in Guntur

The Food Safety Department, in coordination with Legal Metrology officials, conducted raids on 16 food preparation and serving units in Guntur on Tuesday and seized large quantities of stale food and sweets.

The joint inspection teams covered 12 restaurants, two sweet shops and two bakeries across the city. State Joint Food Controller N. Purnachandra Rao said the raids were carried out as part of intensified checks to ensure food safety and compliance with statutory norms.

The establishments inspected included Gongura Restaurant, Bismillah Restaurant, Mayura Family Restaurant, Swagat Delight, 99 Biryani, Alkabeer Restaurant, Nawab Arabian Restaurant, Biryani Palace, Madras Bilal, Babu Biryani, Hotel Shubham at Darga Centre, Subhani Hotel, Sairam Food Sweets, Balaji Sweets at Gorantla, Srujana Bakery at Brodipet and Bangalore Ayyangar Bakery at Pattabhipuram.

During the inspections, officials seized 48 kg of cooked stale food from Bismillah Restaurant, 26 kg from Swagat Delight and 5 kg from Gongura Restaurant. In addition, 26 kg of stale sweets were seized from Sairam Food Sweets.

Mr. Purnachandra Rao said five notices were issued to food business operators for improving hygiene, infrastructure and adherence to food safety norms, while one establishment was served a notice for operating without a valid licence. As part of further action, 19 food samples were collected and sent for laboratory analysis on suspicion of the use of unauthorised colours and other impurities.

The raids were conducted with the participation of B. Srinivas, Assistant Food Controller from Krishna district, and G. Venkateswara Rao, Assistant Food Controller from Nellore, along with 10 food safety officers. Officials including the Joint Controller, Deputy Controller and 10 personnel from the Legal Metrology Department also took part in the operation.