An H-FAST inspection at Barbeque Nation found alleged food safety violations

A surprise inspection conducted by the Hyderabad Food Safety Task Force (H-FAST) on Thursday at the Barbeque Nation outlet in Attapur revealed several alleged food safety and hygiene violations.

The inspection was carried out after a customer who allegedly fell ill after eating at the restaurant lodged a complaint with food safety authorities.

Officials said the H-FAST team arrived at the outlet on July 2 around 1:30 p.m. and inspected the kitchen, storage areas and food handling procedures.

According to FSO Soumya Reddy, the team found that fish procured from local markets were stored in freezers for several days instead of being consumed within a day or two. The fish was also taken out of the cold room for about 15 minutes to marinate and then put back in the freezer, a practice they described as inappropriate for food safety.

The inspection also revealed alleged irregularities in food labeling. Officials said the containers had updated marinating dates on them, although the contents had not been replaced, making it difficult to determine when the food was actually prepared. Some meat products with a shelf life of up to two years were also found in the warehouse.

Food safety officials said the restaurant was inspected about three months ago and given 15 days to fix the deficiencies. While some improvements have been made, several gaps remain, including the absence of certain mandatory records and documents.

The restaurant will be issued a show cause notice and further action will be taken based on its response and inspection findings, officials said.

Published – 02 Jul 2026 20:19 IST