Gujarat authorities shut 137 restaurants amid food safety crackdown

Authorities in Gujarat have launched a massive food safety enforcement drive, resulting in the closure of 137 restaurants following a statewide inspection. The crackdown was prompted by the suspected food poisoning death of a five-year-old girl in Surat after her family consumed a meal from a local restaurant.

In the Surat region, municipal teams inspected over 200 hotels and restaurants, destroying 548 kg of unfit food and issuing notices to 128 establishments. In a separate incident in Indore, officials sealed the kitchens and bakery of the five-star Sayaji Hotel. Inspections at the hotel revealed significant hygiene violations, including the storage of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food in the same compartments, the presence of rodents, and food items lacking proper labeling or batch numbers.

Across the state, officials have also sealed several other restaurants, suspended licenses, and issued improvement notices to dozens of other businesses to ensure public health standards are met.