The popular eatery in Mumbai’s Bandra, which allegedly served rat instead of chicken to a Goregaon resident, has been temporarily closed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The agency slapped a closure notice on Papa Pancho da Dhaba on Wednesday after several compliance issues were reportedly found during an inspection following the customer’s claim of discovering a rat in his food earlier in the week.
The incident also prompted the Maharashtra government to instruct the FDA to carry out an inspection of restaurants and eateries across the state, starting immediately.
The government has reportedly instructed all food safety inspectors (FSOs) to visit five eating joints each and inspect them under the compliance laid down under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
The Case
A senior bank manager and his friend filed a complaint at Bandra police station on Monday, saying that found a piece of “rat meat" in the chicken dish they had ordered at Papa Pancho Da Dhaba at Pali Naka on Sunday night. Following this, an FIR was registered against the eatery.
@MumbaiPolice Rat found in our gravy at #papaPanchodadhaba near Pali naka Bandra West . No manager or owner is ready to listen . We called police and 100 as well . No Help yet . @mumbaimirror @TOIMumbai pic.twitter.com/YRJ4NW0Wyk— Stay_Raw (@AMINKHANNIAZI) August 13, 2023
Police also arrested the cooks and the manager of the restaurant, who were later released on bail surety.
Cooks Narayan Das and Sanjeev Kar, and manager Vivian Sequeira have been reportedly booked under IPC sections for adulteration of food or drink intended for sale, an act endangering the life or personal safety of others, and common intention.
The FDA has also collected the sample of the dish in which the rat was allegedly discovered and sent it for forensic examination. The department will decide on a further course of action after the forensic examination report comes.