As many as 15 popular restaurants have been sealed by the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) in the course of seven days, for serving rotten meat and seafood.
After conducting several surprise visits on more than 500 restaurants within its jurisdiction, the sanitary wing officials of the SCB found that the customers were being served poor quality food.
It was reported that the restaurants store chicken, mutton, fish and prawns for 10 days, even when they do not have deep-freeze facilities.
A popular restaurant in Trimulgherry, Shahi Biryani Darbar, was found to be serving meat with fungus.
“The owner had bought chicken, mutton and seafood in bulk and put it in the fridge for 10 days. A foul smell filled the room when we opened the fridge. We destroyed the meat immediately,” SCB sanitary wing officer M Devender told Times of India.
Another restaurant in Marredpally, Punjabi Kurries, had rotten meat in the fridge.
Not just restaurants, a wholesale supplier of poultry, meat and seafood, Eagle Fisheries, was also found to have improper storage facilities.
SCB has sealed the outlets and the restaurants were given 10 days to rectify the problems. If they fail to do so, they will face a penalty of Rs one lakh.
On Thursday, five eateries were sealed by SCB, after it was found that they were serving rotten fruit juice and cheese with fungus.
Some of the popular restaurants like Friends Corner at Marredpally were among those sealed. The owner reportedly admitted that the restaurant had bought poor quality fruits for cheaper rates.
Another eatery, Stop N Go located near AOC, Marredpally was also using poor quality of ingredients. The restaurant had been serving a pre-prepared dish with rotten mutton.
They allegedly kept meat and cheese with fungus in a refrigerator and prepared non-veg sandwiches for the customers with sub-standard material.