Food safety department suspends license of Sri Chaitanya Educational Institutes’ central kitchen

Telangana Food Safety suspends Sri Chaitanya kitchen license due to serious hygiene violations, including pests and expired food.

The Food Safety department of Telangana has suspended the license of the central kitchen of Sri Chaitanya Educational Institutes, located in Khanamet, Madhapur, following the serious hygiene violations noticed during an inspection on January 24.

The task force teams conducting the inspection found multiple lapses in the kitchen’s cleanliness and food safety practices. Broken floor drains, missing mesh coverings and improperly fitted doors were identified as significant issues that allowed the entry of pests. The walls of the kitchen were reported to be patchy with broken tiles and greasy surfaces indicating a lack of regular maintenance.

Additionally, food safety protocols were grossly neglected. Most food items were stored directly on the ground instead of using pallets and food articles were improperly stored alongside non-food items. The team discarded 125 kg of cashews that had expired a week earlier. Alarmingly, live cockroaches and rodent faeces were found at several locations within the storage areas, with no rodent traps in place to mitigate the infestation.

The inspection also revealed regulatory violations. Although the kitchen operates 12 transport vehicles for food distribution, the facility’s Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence does not cover the transport category. Moreover, the vehicles lacked separate FSSAI licensing, raising concerns about food safety during transportation, informed an official.