- Chicken kebabs at Empire's Gandhinagar outlet were declared unsafe by State Food Laboratory
- Food Safety Officer collected 2 kg of chicken kebab samples from the Empire outlet on June 27
- Test results on July 11 showed kebabs failed Food Product Standards & Food Additives Regulations 2011
Bengaluru's popular Empire restaurant chain has landed in soup after a lab report from the State Food Laboratory, Public Health Institute, declared that chicken kebabs served at its Gandhinagar outlet were unsafe for human consumption.
The food safety alarm was raised following an inspection conducted by Food Safety Officer Ambarish Gowda, who collected 2 kilograms of chicken kebab samples (four packets of 500 grams each) from Empire's outlet near Anand Rao Circle on June 27.
The samples were then sent for testing. The test results, dated July 11, revealed that the chicken kebabs did not meet the required safety standards outlined under the Food Product Standards & Food Additives Regulations, 2011. The food was then declared unsafe under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
In response, BBMP's Food Safety and Drug Administration (North Zone) has issued a formal notice to the restaurant, giving them 30 days to respond. The restaurant has been informed that they may opt for retesting the second part of the food sample at CFTRI, Mysuru, but only at their own expense.
"We have received a notice issued by FSSAI. We won't be commenting on the details of the issue, I can confirm that we have now stopped using food colouring in our kebabs," said Shakir, CEO of Empire chain of restaurants, when contacted by NDTV.
