A team of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) conducted a surprise inspection of Chalet Hotels Private Limited (The Westin Hyderabad, MindSpace), in Raheja IT Park and found operations underway despite their FSSAI license being suspended, the agency said on Tuesday.
The FSSAI is an agency of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and recently begun its operations in Telangana from its office in the BSNL CSC Building, Erragadda.
According to a statement released to the media, the hotel’s license was suspended on September 14 for not conducting mandated third party audits.
The FSSAI stated that expired raw and marinated chicken was found in the preparation area of the kitchen, and that vegetarian and non-vegetarian food was stored in the same place in the cold storage. Further, chicken with a short shelf life and red meat without a mention of the expiry date were found in cold storage.
“The hotel has (prepared) foods like veg biryani, veg pulao, white rice, etc. in the cold storage with a shelf life claim of 36 hours which is seen as a serious contravention. In addition, the bakery area of the hotel was not complying with the hygiene requirements of Schedule 4 of Food Safety and Standards Licensing Regulations, with materials including food kept very close to open garbage bins,” the statement reads.
The FSSAI also stated that chocolates and berries, which had expired, were found in the freezer cabinets of the bakery.
“We went ahead with the inspection because they were operating despite the license being suspended. They later conducted a third party inspection, but the observations of this were to be complied,” Central Licensing Authority, Telangana, K. A. Arul Anand said.
The Hindu contacted the hotel, and their statement was awaited at the time this report went to the press.
