RV Karnan, an IAS officer, arrived at Telangana’s Food Safety Department with a bang rather than a whimper. In just 72 days, Karnan inspected 129 restaurants, pubs, and eateries, issuing 90 show cause notices. He isn’t scared to cause a stir in order to revive Hyderabad’s reputation as a culinary hotspot.
His name is spoken in whispers—he is the “fearless”, “out-of-syllabus”, modern-day Singham across the city’s popular restaurants and eateries, Waiters, head chefs, and managers begin everyone is on fear when Karnan’s task force is on the move.
Nobody knows when and where he will strike next.
Since April 16th, the raids have not ceased. Not only does Karnan patrol dorms and canteens at schools, but he also targets upscale dining establishments, bars, and famous restaurants.
“No one expected inspections of this kind. It has never happened. He [Karnan] came ‘out-of-syllabus’,” said Gopichand, training front-desk manager at Royalton Hotel. Shah Ghouse, Pista House, Rameshwaram Cafe, Taco Bell, Baskin Robbins, La Pino’s Pizza, Paradise Food Court, and Baahubali Kitchen were among the many popular restaurants that failed to pass muster. Karnan even raided the warehouses of delivery apps and found them wanting.
“He’s unafraid of their power or pressure. The goal is to feed delicious and healthy food to the people of Telangana,” said T Vijaya Kumar, who retired as deputy food controller of Telangana on 10 June.
The city has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons: In January, 15 people were hospitalised after eating shawarma from a popular food outlet. Last year, at least 30 patrons of a mandi (meat and rice) restaurant suffered food poisoning.
Task force found synthetic food colours found in Baahubali Kitchen
“Our endeavour is to provide quality and hygienic food, and create awareness among the public about food quality and standards that must be practised”, said RV Karnan, commissioner of food safety, Telangana
The core of this mission is Karnan’s task force, yet he is rarely mentioned in the media. He doesn’t usually talk about war or make big claims. However, in his dual roles as commissioner for food safety and director of Telangana’s National Health Mission (NHM), he seeks to dispel the myth that restaurant kitchens are inherently unclean.
“Heavy cockroach infestation observed in kitchen and cockroaches found on food articles inside store room. Pest Control Records not found,” read the post. Attached was a video showing a critter scurrying in a jar of cookies. Within 20 minutes, the team was on the move to its next inspection site.
A few weeks later, on a weekday evening, the restaurant was almost empty. The white chairs and tables along the red brick walls were unoccupied. In the outdoor seating area, seven or eight young men were gorging on chicken tikka and biryani.
“Urad Dal (100Kg) stock found expired in Mar’24 worth Rs. 16K. Nandini Curd (10kg), Milk (8L) worth Rs. 700 found expired,” posted the commissioner on X with photos. All the items were discarded.
While restaurants like Baahubali Kitchen were spared with just a warning, Karnan has taken strict actions against those guilty of violating food safety and hygiene rules extensively.
His task force also searched a BigBasket warehouse in Masjid Banda, Kondapur, on May 23 and discovered expired commodities like as pizza cheese, paneer, ice cream, chicken masala, chicken sausages, and almond fudge. The researchers also discovered that other food products on the rack were contaminated with edible oil that was seeping out of sachets. The license for the warehouse is still revoked.
Date : 13 & 14 July 2024
Time : 10 AM to 05 PM
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