If you think food served in restaurants in star hotels is safe, you could be mistaken. In a major development in the ongoing inspections in hotels and restaurants, the Maradu municipality on Friday seized stale food from five major star hotels. According to health officials of the municipality, they seized stale food from Le Meridien, Bharat Hotel Sarovaram, White Fort, Castle and Cook Restaurant and Abad Food Court at Abad Nucleus Mall in the city.
According to them, the items seized include nearly a week-old food and expired taste- makers.
Maradu municipal secretary S Jayakumar, who led the team, said the raids were conducted after it came to their notice that even star hotels were serving stale food to customers. “During the inspection we found week-old food which was preserved in the freezers of some hotels. Also we found expired taste-making ingredients such as aginomoto,” he said.
Jayakumar also specified the details of the stale food seized from the hotels. Le Meridian: 20 vessels filled with stale rice and noodles. Bharat Tourist Home’s Sarovaram: various stale curries. White Fort Hotel: stale pickle and meat. Castle and Cook Restaurant: low quality Shawarma. Abad Food Court: stale tandoori chicken. He also said that after issuing notice to these hotels, the stale food was taken to the municipality.