- Food Safety officials in Bengaluru inspected private clubs for hygiene and safety compliance
- Clubs inspected include Century Club, KSCA Club, Bowring Club, and others with elite memberships
- Bowring Club had cockroaches; KSCA Club showed poor hygiene and improper food storage
Food safety officials in Bengaluru have launched inspections at some of the city's most prominent private clubs, checking kitchens and food-handling facilities for compliance with hygiene and food safety regulations.
Teams from the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FDA) are probing whether the clubs are following prescribed food safety standards, including requirements relating to food storage, personal hygiene, kitchen sanitation and labelling.
The inspections have included several exclusive clubs whose memberships are held by some of Bengaluru's wealthiest and most prominent residents. Membership fees at many of the clubs can run into lakhs of rupees.
Among the establishments being inspected are Century Club, Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) Club, Race Course Club, Bowring Club, Catholic Club, Badminton Club, Tennis Club, Vijayanagara Club, Mahalakshmi Layout Club and Malleshwaram Club.
At Bowring, cockroaches were found on the floor, in containers, in cartons, among other areas.
At the KSCA Club, officials reported several food safety and hygiene lapses during their inspection. The food safety team found that food handlers were not maintaining adequate personal hygiene. Officials also found plastic cutting boards being used in the kitchen.
The inspection further found a blocked drainage system and an unhygienic frozen-storage room.
Officials also found food products that they said did not comply with labelling requirements. A packet of K Shakti Toor Dal was reportedly missing details including the packing date, batch number and maximum retail price.
Another concern was the storage of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. Officials said the two categories were not being stored separately. Tilapia fish was found without the required label details.
The utensils-cleaning area was also found to be unhygienic, while hot water was not available at the facility.
The Mahalakshmi Layout Club was also found to have hygiene-related deficiencies. Food Safety Officers said adequate hygiene standards were not being maintained at the club and issued a notice to the establishment.
The raids are still underway and violations are being updated.
Bengaluru's Minister for Health and Family Welfare, UT Khader, will hold a press briefing to share details regarding the inspections on Wednesday.
The latest raids come days after the department reported violations during an inspection of the kitchen of a private hospital in Bengaluru. Officials said expired raw materials were found in the kitchen, including icing sugar, flour and bakery products stored in containers.
Other expired items reportedly included four packets of mixture and nine packets of pani puri.
The food safety team also recovered stale bread and two plastic chopping boards. Officials said they found nine packets of paani puri, five packets of methi leaves, six packets of fried gram weighing about 30kg, a 30kg packet of green peas and five packets of moong dal weighing 30kg each.
Last week, officials reportedly found expired milk and rotten meat at some luxury hotels of Bengaluru. The inspections uncovered a number of alleged food safety violations and prompted the FDA to begin legal proceedings in some cases.
