Less than a month since its opening, IKEA India’s store in Hyderabad is in the news again for hygiene and food quality problem. On August 31, a customer allegedly found a caterpillar in the vegetable biryani served at the store’s restaurant. The customer, Abeed Mohammad, tweeted about the incident, tagging the city’s municipal authorities including KT Rama Rao, which went viral on the internet.
According to reports, authorities visited the 1,000-seater restaurant and took samples of various dishes served. “IKEA representatives said they did not prepare the food in their kitchen and were procuring semi-cooked and frozen food from a Nagpur-based snack manufacturer,” an official said to a leading media organisation. The Swedish giant has later been fined for Rs 11,500 over food safety concerns by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Authority.
Meanwhile, the furnishing brand apologised for the incident and said, “We regret the incident and apologise to our customer for the unfortunate experience. We would like to assure him and everyone else that we are investigating the matter currently to assess what happened and take immediate corrective action. At IKEA, we have the strictest guidelines when it comes to food safety and quality as customer health and safety are something we care about deeply.” Following the incident, an IKEA team is expected to visit the food supplier, Haldiram’s, in Nagpur, reports said.
The store was opened amidst much media and public attention on August 9.