Stale food seized from three hotels in Tripunithura

KOCHI:  The Tripunithura Municipality health squad has issued notice to three major hotels at Tirupunithura after stale food was seized in a surprise raid here on Tuesday. The stale food included chicken, porotta, chappathis, rice and other food items from Aquaria hotel near Petta bridge, Hotel Gold Souq and Hotel Thalassery Palace near Irumpanam.

“Most of the food seized from the hotels were nearly two to three days old. They had kept the chicken and other food items in the refrigerators. We raided the hotels based on a tip-off regarding the sale of stale food,” Deepthi Sumesh, Health Standing Committee chairperson said.

Since the fine amount for such cases is very less, the municipality is planning to revoke the license of the hotels. “A meeting will be held with the municipality chairperson and secretary to take a final decision. We will never allow such hotels to flourish in the city,” Deepthi added.

The municipality exhibited the seized food along with the names of the hotel in front of the Municipality building. “This will help the public to get an idea about the hotels and also act as a deterrent for other hotels,” she said adding more surprise inspections will be held in the coming days as well. 

The hotel owners were unavailable for comments. A few months ago the municipality had seized stale food from Friends Nadan Uchabakshanam, Hotel Zion, Hotel N M Food World and Nadan Fast Food.