Food safety officials in Tamil Nadu sealed a popular restaurant located in Chennai’s Vadapalani after around 65 kilograms of stale meat was found stored in the freezer. The officials raided Yaa Mohaideen restaurant, located on 100 feet road in Vadapalani, on Thursday, June 2, and also seized around 30 kilograms of prepared biriyani that was put up for sale. The kitchen has been temporarily closed and the samples taken from the kitchen have been sent to the food laboratory for further analysis.
The restaurant was also fined Rs 5000, and officials have directed the management to upgrade the kitchen and freezer facilities within a fortnight. Officials have also directed the management to obtain the certificates from NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) before reopening the restaurant.
The food safety officials said that they received a complaint on WhatsApp about the food at the restaurant, and so a raid was conducted. "After receiving a WhatsApp complaint, we conducted a surprise raid on the restaurant and seized 65 kg of stale meat, including chicken and prawns. We also seized 30 kg biriyani that had not been prepared in the outlet. When they were asked where the central kitchen — where the biriyani was made — is located, they refused to divulge the location," Chennai’s designated food safety officer Dr P Satheesh Kumar told TNM.
When his team inspected this food outlet, they found the chicken meat that was cut on May 28 and should have been used by May 30. However, the restaurant stored the meat till June 2 and prepared food from it. Dr Satheesh also pointed out that the staff from the Yah Mohaideen failed to produce the daily purchase bills that usually have the purchase date, purchasing venue, and contact of the meat vending shops.
The raids on restaurants were prompted after the recent death of a 16-year-old in Kerala, who died of food poisoning after eating stale chicken shawarma. Officials from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India have been conducting surprise raids on the food courts and outlets.
Dr Satheesh said there are some very evident signs if a particular food is unfit for consumption. “Stale meat emanates a bad odour and changes colour. However, in some outlets, they sell food that has been prepared the previous day with additional oil and food colours. For this reason, we have categorized non-veg restaurants as high-risk," he said.
Food safety officials at the restaurant
Dr Satheesh added that frequent consumption of stale meat may cause abdominal pain followed by severe vomiting and diarrhoea leading to severe dehydration, kidney functions to shut down and even coma. Once bacteria enter the bloodstream of intestinal blood vessels, they can get spread to other parts of the body which may lead to sepsis, which can also lead to death.
"For now, we have served a stop-sale notice to the restaurant and given the outlet 15 days’ time to upgrade the kitchen and to obtain certificates from NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories)-accredited labs. After 15 days, we will conduct another inspection to check the improved quality of the restaurant and only then can they start food sales again," Dr Satheesh said.
Meanwhile, Dr Bose, food and drug admin in Tiruvallur, told TNM that consuming stale food has many health risks.
"Bacteria and fungus will form once the meat starts to go stale. Consuming unfit food will lead to health issues including vomiting, diarrhoea, and food poisoning. These conditions are treatable when detected early,” said Dr Bose.
When TNM asked about the guidelines that a restaurant should follow when it stores the meat, he recommended freezing the meat, and not just refrigeration.
"Restaurants are advised not to store meat in refrigerators. Meat should be frozen and we ask the management to store the meat in the freezer at -18 degrees. To avoid cross-contamination of food, restaurants are advised to keep the vegetables and meat in separate areas," he added.
Dr Bose said that as per FSSAI, at least one staff employee should be trained as a food safety supervisor. “Each employee in the restaurant should undergo food safety training and should get certified from the NABL accredited labs in know how to store and handle the meat and vegetable goods in the kitchen. If we find irregularities in a kitchen, we first serve a correction notice. In a routine raid, if we happen to see the same irregularities and that the kitchen hygiene is poor, we issue an emergency prohibition notice to the outlets. Later, after getting an emergency prohibition order from the commissioner of food safety, we seal the outlets. Then, the outlets have to upgrade their facilities and hygiene levels to get the permission to function again," he added.