From Sales Success to Scandal: IKEA’s Hyderabad Launch Faces Unforeseen Food Safety Controversy
We all know how much hype IKEA’s launch in Hyderabad created as it broken records of number of sales in a single day for a retail store in the country. Even the sales in IKEA’s restaurant crossed earned Rs. 11 lakhs on the very first day. Less than a month after this, the Swedish Multinational furniture brand has been involved in a controversy after a customer found a caterpillar in the vegetable biryani that was served to him.
Abeed Mohammad, the customer decided to alert the Food Safety Officer with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), and a fine of Rs 11,500 has been imposed on the firm.
Mohammed posted about this on Twitter with an image. He also tagged the Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development KT Rama Rao in the tweet.
#Ikeahyderbad Today I found caterpillar in my veg biryani. Very unfair of food @TV9Telugu @KTRTRS sir @hydcitypolice @THHyderabad @Abnandhrajyothi pic.twitter.com/jumiED25fs
— Abeed Mohammad (@abeedmohammed9) August 31, 2018
Also Read: Why IKEA Chose Hyderabad For Opening Its First Indian Store?
GHMC officials visited the store to collect food samples for analysis tests. GHMC has issued a notice to the restaurant and also to Haldirams. Note that IKEA gets its food from Haldirams’ Nagpur vendor and the company has decided to visit the Haldiram’s supplier at Nagpur.
“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.”
Ikea said in a statement.
It is shameful that such big names are showing ignorance in quality check of the food they serve. Most of the well-educated people in our country blindly trust these multinational brands and see what they get in return.