Cobwebs, pigeon droppings found in Kompally’s Big Basket warehouse

Hyderabad: Telangana Commissioner of Food Safety team on Saturday, April 18, inspected a Big Basket warehouse in Kompally and found serious violations, including unhygienic transport of food items.

The warehouse was operating 22 transport vehicles for moving goods. However, their Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) license had no mention of transport permit, the Commissioner of Food Safety said.

Moving food items in unhygienic vehicles with rust violates Schedule 4 of transport conditions. The team also found pigeon droppings and cobwebs inside the warehouse. The employees were handling items in unsafe conditions and even sold unclean vegetables.

Samples taken on suspicion of adulteration

Suspecting adulteration, the authorities took samples of chicken and fish for testing. A sample of imli named Institutional Tamarind was also collected as its label appeared tampered. It is likely expired and was relabelled instead, the authorities said.

Over the past month, city residents have been confronted with disturbing visuals of the unhygienic conditions under which their everyday pantry staples are prepared, as police crack down on manufacturing units and seize thousands of kilograms of adulterated food.

Used tea powder mixed into fresh batches, excess preservatives in ginger garlic paste, missing ingredients and “best before” labels on bakery products, the complaints flooding the Hyderabad Police