The Hyderabad Food Adulteration Surveillance Team (H-FAST) on Wednesday, July 1, arrested two men for allegedly supplying beef disguised as mutton to several restaurants and eateries across the city. The racket came to light following a raid on a meat shop in Mallepally, where officials seized around 50 kg of suspected adulterated meat.
The raid was conducted at Osman Meat Shop, located near Badi Masjid in Mallepally, after authorities received specific information that adulterated meat was being sold to customers.
Police registered a case against the shop’s owner, Mohammed Osman Qureshi, and Mohammed Jahangir Pasha, a worker at Ayan Beef Shop.
The joint operation was carried out by H-FAST, the Central Crime Station (CCS) police, a Food Safety Officer, a Veterinary Doctor and the Habeebnagar police.
During the inspection, officials found that meat being sold as goat meat had allegedly been mixed with beef. The entire stock was seized, and samples were collected and sent for laboratory analysis to confirm the nature of the meat. They are now investigating how long the alleged adulteration had been taking place.
A day earlier, H-FAST also raided Eagle Fisheries in Secunderabad, where officials detected the storage and sale of rotten chicken. The accused was apprehended, the case was handed over to the Veterinary Department, and a fine of Rs 3,000 was imposed.
H-FAST has intensified inspections across Hyderabad in recent weeks, carrying out a series of raids on eateries, meat shops and food establishments over allegations of food adulteration, unhygienic storage practices and violations of food safety norms.
Recently on June 19, the team raided an unlicensed fast-food godown in Panch Mohalla and seized around 110 kg of adulterated food stock, including fried chicken allegedly prepared using repeatedly reused cooking oil and banned artificial colours. Two people were apprehended in that case.