Bengal food safety raids uncover rotten meat, spoiled dairy; licences cancelled

Food safety officials in West Bengal have seized rotten meat, soured milk and spoiled dairy products during inspections across the state, as part of the government’s Consumer Protection Week which began on Tuesday, September 1, 2026.

During a visit to a shopping mall in Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas, officials found several kilograms of meat in fridges at food-court eateries. The meat showed visible fungal growth, indicating it had expired. According to an official, the staff at the shops said the meat had been bought two to three days earlier, but could not produce purchase documents. Samples of the meat, sauces and cold drinks were collected and sent to laboratories for testing.

Following the inspection, the Food Safety Department cancelled the licences of nearly all eateries at the mall.

Notices were issued to two restaurants in Baduria and Dadpur, Hooghly, as well as three Chinese restaurants in Kolkata’s EM Bypass area. More than 40 kg of stale meat was seized during a surprise inspection there on Wednesday. The licence of a chaat shop in Salt Lake was also cancelled after it was found to be using contaminated ingredients.

A prominent biryani seller in Rishra, Hooghly, was directed to discard its entire stock on Wednesday after officials found that spurious colouring had been added to the food.

Raids were also conducted at several bakeries and confectioneries in Suri and Bhiennaghar in Birbhum, Bhadreswar in Hooghly, and Shaktigarh in Bardhaman. In some of these shops, flies were found in milk and spoiled eggs were found mixed into cake batter.

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

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced a zero-tolerance policy for market malpractice, fake flat-booking advertisements and real estate fraud, comparing the crackdown to earlier action against chit-fund scams. He directed food safety enforcement officials to visit markets and check for weighing-scale manipulation, missing receipts, and artificial price hikes on essential commodities such as sugar and vegetables.