Key Development 

Bengaluru’s popular Empire restaurant chain is facing scrutiny after the State Food Laboratory, Public Health Institute, declared chicken kebabs from its Gandhinagar outlet unsafe for human consumption. The issue surfaced after Food Safety Officer Ambarish Gowda inspected the outlet near Anand Rao Circle on June 27. During the inspection, he collected 2 kg of chicken kebab samples (four packets of 500 grams each) and sent them for testing. Test results dated July 11 revealed that the chicken kebabs failed to meet safety standards outlined in the Food Product Standards & Food Additives Regulations, 2011. Consequently, the food was declared unsafe under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

Restaurant Gets 30 Days to Respond

Following these findings, BBMP’s Food Safety and Drug Administration (North Zone) issued a notice to Empire, giving the chain 30 days to respond. The notice also stated that the restaurant could opt for retesting the second part of the sample at CFTRI, Mysuru, at its own cost. Responding to NDTV, Shakir, CEO of Empire Restaurants, said, “We have received the notice from FSSAI. We will not comment on the details, but we can confirm that we have stopped using food colouring in our kebabs.”

Source: Hindustan Times