The Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s food-safety team inspected restaurants and food stalls in the New Market and Dharmatala areas ahead of Durga Puja, reportedly finding food that was two to three days old and sending samples to the civic body’s food laboratory for testing.
The inspection was conducted by officials from the food-safety department under the KMC health department. According to a report by Sangbad Pratidin, several shops were checked in succession on Friday, with stale food discarded during the operation. The report said food samples were collected from establishments and sent to the municipal food laboratory.
KMC food-safety officials said similar inspections would continue across the city during Mahalaya and after the festival. The campaign has been launched ahead of the festive season, when restaurants, roadside food stalls and other food outlets typically face increased demand from residents and visitors.
The inspection covered both restaurants and pavement food stalls in the New Market-Dharmatala area. The report said some well-known restaurants also removed prepared chicken and fish items that had reportedly been kept for two to three days. The food-safety team checked whether establishments were storing or selling food beyond an acceptable period.
Officials also examined packaged food and meat products for production dates and information indicating how long the items could be sold. The KMC said strict legal action would be taken against sellers where such information was absent, according to the report.
The team also carried equipment to check whether synthetic colours were being used in food cooked with oil. The use of such colouring agents was among the issues examined during the inspection. Food-safety officers further began checking whether restaurants and roadside food stalls held valid food licences and whether those licences remained current.
The action places food handling in Kolkata’s busy commercial districts under closer civic scrutiny before one of the city’s largest annual festivals. New Market and Dharmatala combine high pedestrian traffic with a dense mix of restaurants, informal food vendors and retail activity, making food-safety enforcement dependent not only on inspections but also on licensing, storage practices and laboratory testing.
The inspection also illustrates the range of responsibilities being exercised by the municipal food-safety system: identifying stale food, collecting samples, checking labelling, testing for colouring agents and verifying licences. The report did not provide the names of establishments inspected, the number of samples collected or the results of laboratory tests.
KMC food-safety officials said the inspections would continue across Kolkata through Mahalaya and after Durga Puja. Further action will depend on the findings of the laboratory tests and the results of the licence, labelling and food-colour checks carried out during the campaign.
