Like any other regular day, Anusha Ravi, a journalist in Bengaluru, asked her office boy to get her lunch from a nearby eatery on Sunday afternoon. She wanted to eat vegetarian food and placed an order of Bisibele Bath from Vasudev Adiga's on Church Street. According to Anusha, the parcel had more than just what she had ordered for. She alleges that the packaging contained rat-poop.
A horrified Anusha put up a Facebook post on this and also published photos of the parcel she had received.
"When you order a bisi bele bath, you also get curd and boondi in separate covers. I usually mix them and eat it. Today, I had a spoonful of the rice and was about to pour the boondi in the container when I noticed the rat excreta in the cover," Anusha says speaking to The News Minute.
She immediately took the food and carried it to the eatery demanding an explanation where she says she was offered an exchange by the staff.
Anusha wrote, "The staff here even had the audacity to say he will exchange it, like hell I will eat from any of Vasudev Adiga's outlets anymore! I didn't take back my money, neither did I exchange the product. I demanded that the entire box of this boondi be thrown into the bin and made sure they did in front of my eyes."
She forgot to take back the food with her (in case she wanted to get it tested in a lab), and the restaurant according to her "got rid of immediately". Anusha says they even tried to dunk the bill in water before she fished it out herself.
A post by Anusha on the restaurant's Facebook page was allegedly deleted following which she took to publishing it on her page.
In an email to Anusha on Sunday evening, Jacob Kurian, MD, VAFFL, wrote, "I have just seen your mail and fb post. I couldn't find your number and hence am replying via email to you. As an immediate measure, I have directed that the unit be closed and thoroughly scrubbed from top to bottom.
Church Street has a lot of eating units and consequently a lot of rodents on the street and drains. We take every precaution to ensure we don't let them get into our unit. We will again check if there are any entry points they may have burrowed through and will ensure it is sealed if any is found. We will also re-audit our processes to check again how any foreign object could have entered the food.
We take a lot of effort to make great food in as hygienic an environment as possible. When our processes fail, I can only offer you my sincerest apologies and redouble our efforts to ensure the safety and hygiene of our food.
I am happy to call you in person if you want my personal reassurance and apology."
Meanwhile, Anusha has spoken to the BBMP health inspector and emailed concerned authorities to look into the issue.
The News Minute has called the numbers listed in the Contact Us page of Adiga's website and written to them on email. We will post updates if and when we get a response from them.