Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation food safety team wants proper action against the owners of Big Boss, a Chinese restaurant in Tangra, for violating food safety standards. According to a KMC official who participated in the inspection of the restaurant on Wednesday, which found a huge quantity of meat and fish that were kept in the freezers without labels, the team is awaiting municipal commissioner Smita Pandey’s nod to initiate proceedings against the errant owners that could finally pave the way for cancellation of the food safety licence. “We have collected a huge quantity of meat and fish and transported the same to the Dhapa dumping ground. Now we want to initiate the proceedings against the owners. We are awaiting a nod from the municipal commissioner,” said a KMC official.
At Big Boss, the management said the seized stock was approximately four days’ requirement for the restaurant. Edwin Hsieh, one of the partners, said the restaurant did not weigh the stock but accepted the civic team’s estimate of around 500 kg.
Hsieh said the restaurant remained open on Thursday and had decided to change its procurement practice. “Our restaurant is open on Thursday and regular guests are dropping in. We have decided that we will procure on a daily basis and will not stock anything in the freezer from now on,” said Hsieh.
“Food safety is absolutely non-negotiable, and every hotel and restaurant must strictly comply with FSSAI regulations. At the same time, authorities must recognise that professionally managed hotels need to maintain reasonable food inventory for smooth and uninterrupted operations. Properly labelled food stored hygienically at prescribed temperatures and within its safe shelf life should not automatically be treated as stale or unsafe. We support strict enforcement, but it must be scientific, fair and distinguish genuine violations from legitimate professional food-storage practices,” said Suborno Bose, President, Bengal Association of Hotels and Restaurants.