Rotten meat, spoiled milk seized across Bengal as food safety raids widen

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Food safety officials in several parts of West Bengal seized huge quantities of rotten meat, sour milk and spoiled milk products as the state government launched the Consumer Protection Week on Tuesday (September 1, 2026).

During a visit to a prominent mall in Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas, officials found kilograms of rotten meat stored in refrigerators in several restaurants. The meat showed significant mold growth, indicating that it had already gone through.

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“Employees at the shops told us that the meat was purchased two to three days ago, but they could not produce the necessary purchase documents. We collected meat samples, some sauces and cold drink bottles, which were sent to laboratories for testing,” the visiting officer said.

After an inspection, the food safety department revoked the licenses of almost all restaurants in the mall.

Notices have also been issued to two popular restaurants in Baduria and Dadpur in Hooghly, as well as three Chinese restaurants in Kolkata’s EM Bypass area, from where over 40 kg of expired meat was seized in a surprise check on Wednesday. A chaat shop in Salt Lake has had its license revoked after it was found to be using contaminated ingredients.

A prominent biryani vendor in Rishra, Hooghly, was on Wednesday ordered to discard all its stock after officials found it had added fake colouring.

Raids were also conducted at several bakeries and sweet shops in Suri and Bhiennaghar in Birbhum, Bhadreswar in Hooghly and Shaktigarh in Bardhaman, where flies were found in milk and rotten eggs mixed in cake batter.

“Prima facie, many of these shops have been following these practices for years. We have either sealed or issued notices to most of these shops. Our checks will continue across the state. We advise the public not to visit these establishments and avoid food,” said a police officer.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has announced zero tolerance for market malpractices, fake flat booking advertisements and real estate scams, likening the crackdown to an earlier crackdown on chit-fund scams. He directed food safety enforcement officials to visit markets to check weight manipulation, missing receipts and artificial price hike of essential commodities like sugar and vegetables.

Published – 03 Sep 2026 10:48 IST