THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A woman and her daughter got the shock of their life when they found the remains of a snake skin in the hotel food they were eating. Priya, a woman hailing from Poovathoor, saw the skin in the porotta bought from Shalimar Hotel at Market Junction, Nedumangad, on Thursday noon.
Priya had accompanied her daughter who came to Nedumangad to attend her tenth standard examination. They opted for hotel food as the examination was delayed. They bought two porottas and gravy from the hotel to make up for the lunch. The daughter ate one porotta and then the mother started eating the second one. She found the skin just when she placed the first piece in her mouth. She immediately spat it out.
The duo first approached the Nedumangad police who directed them to the Food Safety Office in the municipality office. “We inspected the hotel immediately. It worked in a bad condition. The kitchen did not have sufficient lighting and scrap was seen dumped outside. The outlet was shut at once and a show-cause notice served,” said Arshitha Basheer, food safety officer of Nedumangad Circle.
The leftover has been sent to the laboratory. Further action will be taken based on the lab report, she said. “Our preliminary finding is that the dead skin was in the newspaper used for packing the food. The porotta was placed on a transparent packing paper and wrapped around with newspaper. The skin somehow came into contact with the porotta beneath.
The skin piece was half a finger long,” she said. The Nedumangad municipality has cancelled the licence of the outlet. The Food Safety department’s punishment, suspending or cancelling licence or fine will be decided after the lab report is out. The food safety department had earlier banned the use of newspapers for wrapping food items.