Bengaluru, 17 August

Karnataka's Department of Food Safety and Drugs Administration inspected hostels, schools, hotels, highway dhabas, e-commerce warehouses and bus stands, collecting thousands of samples and levying hefty fines on non-compliant businesses. 

The operation targeted hygiene violations, artificial additives, mislabelled meat and non-compliance in both rural and urban areas, including high-end establishments in Bengaluru. 

Officials inspected 629 Backward Classes hostels (1,860 samples collected) and 331 Social Welfare Department hostels (556 samples collected). 

Inspections 603 Anganwadi yielded 549 food samples. The department said that 25,626 Anganwadi centres have now received free food safety registration. 

124 educational institutions were inspected, with 53 suspicious food samples sent for laboratory testing. 

889 food stalls were checked in 186 bus stands; 206 received notices for unhygienic conditions, and Rs 55,000 in spot fines were collected. 

Five teams raided 99 dhabas along the Nelamangala-Haveri highway corridor (via Tumakuru, Chitradurga, and Davangere), and imposed fines of Rs 3,67,500. 

30 teams inspected over 60 three and five-star hotels, 4 international restaurants and 8 warehouses in BBMP limits, serving notices to 30 operators. 

During Bengaluru hotel inspections, authorities confiscated expired, rotten, and improperly stored food. 

Out of 41 Shawarma and 21 Kebab samples tested for artificial colours, 9 Shawarma and 1 Kebab sample were declared unsafe. 

Meanwhile, fast food restaurant chain KFC said on Monday that information about inspection at its outlet in Mangaluru "doesn't depict true facts" and asserted that the chicken served and stored at its restaurants is maintained as per norms.