Haldiram’s restaurant, a popular landmark on Kolkata’s VIP Road, was shut on Tuesday on grounds of poor hygiene and inadequate cleanliness. Food safety officials found cockroaches and flies beneath the food counter shelves and under tables in the restaurant, as per The Telegraph. The restaurant is a few kilometres away from the airport.
The adjoining Haldiram’s retail outlet, which sells sweets and savouries, was found to be compliant with the norms laid down by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Haldiram’s Restaurant Outlet Closed
Officials directed the staffers at Haldiram’s Restaurant to take immediate corrective measures. The restaurant operators volunteered to keep the eatery closed for two days to carry out the required work.
“There were flies and cockroaches in the dark corners of the shelves where cooked food was kept and underneath the tables at the restaurant, which defies cleanliness norms,” a senior official of the state food safety department told The Telegraph.
Insiders told the paper that the restaurant owners would inform the food safety department after completing the required cleaning and hygiene measures.
The department would conduct a fresh inspection before allowing the restaurant to resume operations.
“We have also asked the restaurant operators to install machinery that can monitor the quality of the oil used daily to fry items. The restaurant sells several fried items, and this was a necessity we told them,” the official added.
The measure was also taken as the restaurant sees increased footfalls in the run-up to Diwali. Since pest control could not be carried out while keeping the outlet open, the operators volunteered to close it for two days.
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Food Inspections In Kolkata
Food safety officers from the West Bengal health department have been inspecting outlets across Salt Lake, New Town and the surrounding urban areas over the past few days. Officials closed a popular dhaba opposite City Centre in Salt Lake after they found unhygienic food preparation conditions, including mould-covered meat in refrigerators. Inspectors also shut a prominent nearby sweet shop for two days after finding expired food products.
In September, the licences of 40 restaurants and sweet shops in the city were cancelled, and rotten food was seized from many establishments during raids by the department.
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