Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], August 17 (HBTV): In a massive statewide enforcement drive, Karnataka's Department of Food Safety and Drugs Administration inspected hostels, schools, hotels, highway dhabas, e-commerce warehouses and bus stands, collecting thousands of samples and levying hefty fines on non-compliant businesses.
The extensive operation targeted hygiene violations, artificial additives, mislabelled meat and regulatory non-compliance across both rural and urban areas, including high-end establishments in Bengaluru.
Officials inspected 629 Backward Classes hostels, collecting 1,860 samples, and 331 Social Welfare Department hostels, collecting 556 samples.
Inspections across 603 Anganwadi centres yielded 549 food samples. The department noted that 25,626 Anganwadi centres have now received free food safety registration.
A total of 124 educational institutions were inspected, with 53 suspicious food samples sent for laboratory testing.
A total of 889 food stalls were checked across 186 bus stands. Of these, 206 received notices for unhygienic conditions, and spot fines totalling INR 55,000 were collected.
Five teams raided 99 dhabas along the Nelamangala-Haveri highway corridor via Tumakuru, Chitradurga and Davangere, issuing fines totalling INR 3,67,500.
Thirty teams inspected more than 60 three- and five-star hotels, four international restaurants and eight warehouses within BBMP limits, serving notices to 30 operators.
During the Bengaluru hotel inspections, authorities confiscated significant quantities of expired, rotten and improperly stored food items.
A total of 429 kg of mutton and chicken were seized due to mislabelling or expired dates. Another 203 kg of fish was seized for having extended expiry dates. In addition, 200 kg of vegetarian food was found stored next to non-vegetarian items, along with 76 kg of rotten or mouldy vegetables, 45 litres of milk and curd, 49 litres of substandard used cooking oil, 12 kg of bakery goods and 67 kg of cereals.
Out of 41 shawarma and 21 kebab samples tested for artificial colours, nine shawarma and one kebab sample were declared unsafe, triggering legal action.
Thirty-six egg mayonnaise samples were collected statewide. At the Tamil Nadu border, four teams tested 25 incoming milk and dairy samples, finding one substandard sample.
A total of 236 e-commerce warehouses and facilities were inspected. Legal proceedings were initiated against 44 warehouses, while eight warehouses were fined INR 1,97,000 for poor hygiene.
The department trained 11,370 food business operators under the FSSAI's FoSTaC (Food Safety Training and Certification) programme to raise long-term compliance standards.
State officials confirmed that rigorous inspections and sampling drives will continue regularly to enforce strict adherence to food safety standards across Karnataka. (ANI)