The Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s health department discarded nearly 60kg of food items and served a notice on a restaurant in Kasba on Monday during a food safety drive at Acropolis Mall and the adjoining neighbourhood along Rajdanga Main Road.
The team inspected 53 food outlets, including restaurants, stalls and roadside eateries.
Officials said two samples of red chilli powder contained unauthorised synthetic colours, metanil yellow was detected in four turmeric samples, and a paneer sample was found to be adulterated with starch.
“A notice under Section 38 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, was served on one of the shops on Rajdanga Main Road. Food items were discarded because date tags were missing from stored items. In some cases, expired juices were also thrown away,” a senior KMC health department official said.
Of the 53 establishments inspected, 23 were located inside the mall.
The teams instructed owners and operators to follow four key requirements:
Use branded spices and sauces
Maintain proper hygiene and sanitary conditions
Ensure food handlers wear appropriate headgear and aprons
Label food items stored in refrigerators with proper date tags
The teams inspected restaurant kitchens, checking the manufacturing and expiry dates of ingredients and other items in use, as well as overall cleanliness and hygiene.
At roadside stalls selling everything from biryani to rolls, officials checked the spices being used.
The team discarded stale chicken and rotten cauliflowers found at some eateries.
“In some places, date tags were missing from stored food items. Food was found to be stale at a few establishments,” the official said.
Senior KMC officials said the drives would continue during the Pujas, with teams scheduled to inspect stalls around Puja pandals and restaurants likely to attract large numbers of visitors during the festivities.
During a week-long drive in September, KMC teams inspected 592 establishments, collected samples at 161 locations and discarded 1,224kg of food that failed to meet safety norms.
“The drive was undertaken to make the entire food industry a little more responsible and accountable to the people of Calcutta. We tried to cover almost all segments offering food to the people, including hotels, clubs, restaurants, markets and bazaars,” KMC commissioner Smita Pandey had said.