Patna: The Food Safety Department conducted surprise inspections at five major hotels in Patna on Friday as part of a campaign to ensure the availability of safe and quality food products ahead of the festive season.
Acting on the instructions of Health Secretary and Commissioner of Food Safety Kumar Ravi, five teams inspected Hotel Gargi Grand, Patliputra Exotica, The Panache Hotel, Hotel Maurya and Lemon Tree Hotel.
The inspections uncovered several food safety and hygiene deficiencies, including expired food products, improper storage of meat, inadequate kitchen sanitation and gaps in maintaining required records.
All five hotels have been issued 14-day improvement notices and directed to rectify the deficiencies. The department said inspections and enforcement action would continue.
Expired Meat, Bread Destroyed At The Panache
At The Panache Hotel, officials found around 10kg of mutton and chicken stored in polythene bags inside a freezer without manufacturing or expiry dates. Six packets of bread without dates were also found.
The meat and chicken were destroyed under Section 38 of the Food Safety Act, along with the undated bread. Food items worth a total of Rs 6,250 were destroyed at the establishment.
Water testing recorded a total dissolved solids (TDS) level of 44.
Expired Products Found At Patliputra Exotica
At Patliputra Exotica, officials found an unhygienic kitchen with a broken ventilator and pigeons inside the premises. Storage arrangements in the storeroom were also found unsatisfactory.
The hotel had not displayed its Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) number on bills, according to the inspection findings.
Expired products destroyed at the establishment included six kilograms of Raj Milk, eight kilograms of bakery mix, 1.5 kilograms of a product identified as Hydro and 100 grams of cumin seeds.
Food Storage And Hygiene Lapses At Gargi Grand
At Hotel Gargi Grand, officials found vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items stored together in the kitchen. Lapses were also observed in following the First-In, First-Out (FIFO) system for food storage.
The hotel had not conducted water quality testing since 2024, while employee health certificates were unavailable during the inspection.
Samples of paneer and arhar dal were collected and sent for laboratory testing.
Aluminium Cooking Vessels At Hotel Maurya
At Hotel Maurya near Gandhi Maidan, food was being cooked in aluminium vessels. Officials instructed the hotel to stop the practice.
Other deficiencies included rusted refrigerators, the absence of temperature records, poor drainage and uncovered dustbins.
Samples of paneer and salted butter were collected and sent to the laboratory in Agamkuan for testing.
Samples Collected At Lemon Tree Hotel
At Lemon Tree Hotel, officials collected samples of paneer, cheese, tomato sauce and liquid sauce for laboratory analysis.
The hotel was also instructed to ensure that the drainage mesh was properly covered.
Hotels Given 14 Days To Rectify Deficiencies
The Food Safety Department has directed all five establishments to address the shortcomings identified during the inspections within 14 days.
The inspections form part of the department’s efforts to enforce food safety standards and prevent the sale or serving of unsafe food during the festive season. Further inspections and enforcement measures are expected to continue.
