Expired curd used to prepare mint chaas at Hyderabad cloud kitchen

Hyderabad: A food safety raid at Rebel Foods Pvt Ltd’s cloud kitchen in Kondapur, which operates multiple brands including Oven Story, Behrouz, Faasos, Sweet Truth, Wendy’s and LunchBox from a single facility, uncovered expired curd and gravy being used in food preparation.

Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) food safety teams found 5 packets of curd expired since July 5, and 6 packets expired since July 8, along with Indian gravy that had expired on July 4. Mint chaas was found being prepared using the expired curd.

Officials also flagged an unhygienic wash area during the inspection. In a more serious finding, the medical fitness certificates of food handlers appeared to have been altered and did not match actual medical test results.

Some good practices were noted at the facility, including the absence of synthetic food colours, food handlers wearing hairnets, and periodic TPC testing to monitor cooking oil quality. The outlet scored 78 out of 100 in the hygiene assessment.

The expired items were discarded on the spot. CMC has issued an improvement notice and directed the Food Business Operator to rectify all deficiencies immediately, while the authenticity of the medical certificates will be examined separately.

The inspection is part of CMC’s ongoing food safety drive across Cyberabad, which has in recent days covered restaurants, cloud kitchens, quick-commerce warehouses and institutional kitchens. Recent raids have turned up rat droppings and expired mushrooms at a Rainbow Vistas restaurant, cat faeces and stray dogs near a central kitchen at Sri Chaitanya and Narayana colleges in Madhapur, expired cheese and yoghurt at an Instamart warehouse in Gajularamaram, and expired packaged goods and pest infestation at a Reliance Smart Bazaar in Kompally. Missing or expired medical fitness certificates for food handlers have been a recurring lapse across several of these inspections.