The Food Safety Department of Telangana raided Sundeep Kishan’s restaurant, Vivaha Bhojanambu, on July 8 this year and said they flouted six rules. While promoting his Tamil film Raayan in Hyderabad, the actor defended his restaurant against these claims.  

Sundeep defends his restaurant

Sundeep defended his restaurant, claiming that he started Vivaha Bhojanambu not to make profits but to provide free food to anyone who visits the Chiranjeevi Blood Bank nearby if needed.

He said, “From each of the seven outlets of Vivaha Bhojanambu, we donate nearly 50 food packets daily. That makes 350 free food packets every day and even if it costs us ₹50 per packet, that would be more than ₹4 lakh monthly donation. When donating ₹4 lakhs worth of food free, why would we save an expired rice packet that costs a few bucks?”

Sundeep did admit that their restaurant was found to have ‘minor issues’ but stated that they had nothing to do with ‘cooking and safety’. He said, “I am only mentioning charity to make a point that we don’t cut corners. No matter how much charity we do, cleanliness is important. And the Food Safety Department didn’t mention any such issues. There was no water stagnant at the restaurant; it was a drain.”

The actor even claimed that his restaurants saw ‘huge billings the day after the raid. “See, people who eat there believe in our quality, so that wasn’t affected. We even had huge billings the day after the raid,” he said.

Food Safety Department’s claim

Listing what rules were broken, the Commissioner of Food Safety Telangana wrote on X (formerly Twitter) earlier this month, “Chittimutyalu Rice (25kg) was found with Best Before date as 2022 and 500gms of Coconut Grates found with synthetic food colours. Stock has been discarded. Raw food articles & semi prepared foods stored in steel containers were covered but not labelled properly.”

They added, “Few dustbins were not covered with lids. Medical fitness certificates for food handlers were not available. Water stagnation observed in the drains inside kitchen premises. Water analysis report for the bubble water used as ingredient in food preparation and served to customers was not available.”

Upcoming work

After Captain Miller, Sundeep teamed up with Dhanush again for his directorial Raayan, released this Friday. The film also stars Kalidas Jayaram and SJ Suryah. He will also star in the Telugu film Vibe, directed by Swaroop RSJ and an untitled film by Trinadha Rao Nakkina.

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