Hyderabad: Rusty knives, rotten fruits, no licenses — Food Safety violations exposed at juice shops

The food safety teams found several violations of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) 2006 at these establishments. Notably, three juice centres—A1 Fruit and Juice Shop, KGN Juice Centre, and Natural Flavours—were operating without a valid license.

Hyderabad: The food safety inspectors from Commissioner of Food Safety have conducted a series of inspections in juice centres including A1 Fruit and Juice Shop, Vengalraonagar, Coconut Juice Bar, Vinata Complex, KGN Juice Centre, opposite government hospital, Natural Flavours, Tirumala towers, Ameerpet and Bombay Juice, metro pillar number C 1443, Ameerpet.

The food safety teams reported multiple food safety violations under Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) 2006 in these establishments. Three juice centres including A1 fruit and juice shop, KGN Juice Centre and Natural Flavours were operating their business without a valid license. Establishments without a valid FSSAI license/registration will be closed, after giving notice as per the FSS Act, 2006, the Commissioner of Food Safety, on Thursday said.

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At A1 fruit and juice shop, there was no proper drainage system, refrigerator was rusty and in unhygienic condition, rusty iron knives were found, water analysis reports, pest control reports and medical certificates for food handlers were not available and dustbins were found open.

At Coconut Juice Bar, insects, cockroaches and rotten fruits were found in the refrigerator, there were no pest control records, medical records and water analysis reports. The preparation area was in unhygienic condition and dustbins were found to be open.

At KGN Juice Centre, the juice preparation area was infested with houseflies, the refrigerator was highly unhygienic and it was used to store spoiled fruit salad for human consumption. The teams found unlabelled food articles were found and the premises were in unhygienic condition.

At Natural flavours, the food safety inspecting teams said that there were no pest control records, medical records and water analysis reports, expired fruit syrups such as pineapple crush, blackcurrant crush, orange crush etc were found, soda bottles did not have manufacturing and expiry date, cockroaches were in the refrigerator, food handler was not wearing any head cap or apron and dustbins were left open.

At Bombay Juice centre, there were no pest control records, medical fitness certificates and water analysis report, the walls of the refrigerator were rusty and extremely unhygienic, rotten fruits and vegetables were stored in the refrigerator for human consumption, food articles were found unlabelled and food handlers were chewing tobacco during the preparation of food.