The kitchen of Skyye Lounge at Bengaluru’s UB City was shut down after Karnataka food safety officials found 45 kg of rotten meat, mouldy food, and expired dairy products during a raid Sunday, as authorities stepped up inspections of high-end restaurants across the city.

Officials from the Karnataka Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) said 132 kg of food articles and 15 litres of used cooking oil were also seized or discarded during raids at five establishments.

According to officials, Skyye, the 16th-floor rooftop restaurant, was found to have an unhygienic kitchen, with rotten meat, expired milk and curds, and other food items which were unfit for consumption.

During the inspection at Skyye, officials found 45 kg of rotten meat, 6 kg of rotten vegetable cutlets, and 15 litres of used cooking oil, all of which were found to be unfit for consumption. “The meat and beef were rotten with fungus. The milk and curds had expired 10 days ago. The food articles were found unfit for consumption and discarded or destroyed as per procedure,” an official said.

When The Indian Express contacted Skyye for a response, calls went unanswered.

The Sunday inspections were part of a wider special drive by FSDA, along with civic officials, to check food storage, kitchens, and other facilities operated by food business operators across Bengaluru Urban district and areas under other city corporations.

Besides Skyye, officials raided Royal Chain Hotel, Madras Kitchen, Tescon Hotel, and Sanchez Hotel Sunday.

Officials said they found serious lapses in food storage at several establishments. “The meat in some of the hotels we visited was in a rotten state. In one place, it had been kept in cold storage for more than six months. Fish can be stored for up to a month, but at one restaurant, it had been kept for more than a year,” an official said.

Notices have been issued to establishments found violating food safety norms, while samples of expired food materials have been sent to laboratories for testing. Most of the seized items were destroyed, officials said. They also said that some establishments attempted to conceal manufacturing and expiry dates during the inspections.

At Royal Chain Hotel, 50 kg of duck and 5 kg of fish were seized. Madras Kitchen was found with 5 kg of green peas, while 5 kg of mushrooms were seized from Tescon Hotel. At the Sanchez Hotel, 3 kg of fish was seized, and 7 kg of cake, potatoes, and tacos were discarded.

The latest raids follow a similar FSDA crackdown on August 7, when officials seized and destroyed large quantities of meat, vegetables, fish, bakery products, and milk from several prominent hotels in Bengaluru.

At LaLiT Ashok (South Annexe), officials seized 76 kg of meat, 200 kg of vegetables, and 32 litres of expired milk. Another 15 kg of meat was seized at Shangri-La, 19 kg at Four Seasons, 3 kg of expired bakery products at Vivanta Whitefield, and 72 kg of meat and fish at Taj Yeshwantpur. At Radisson Blu Hotel, officials seized 50 kg of chicken, 25 kg of meat, 23 kg of fish, and 7 kg of vegetables.

However, LaLiT Ashok Bengaluru disputed aspects of the findings. In a statement, the hotel said the meat and frozen food products cited in reports were frozen and “were not found to be spoiled or unfit for consumption”. It also said the milk was one day beyond its “Best Before” date, had already been identified for withdrawal and was not intended to be served to guests.

“The LaLiT Ashok Bengaluru takes food safety, hygiene and quality standards with utmost seriousness. We are fully cooperating with the authorities and have already reviewed and reinforced our food storage, inventory management and product-date monitoring processes in line with the observations made during the inspection,” it said.

The food articles were found unfit for consumption and discarded or destroyed as per procedure.

Source: The Indian Express