'Cockroaches, fungal food': FSSAI slaps notices on Delhi's 5-star hotels JW Marriott and Andaz

Food regulator FSSAI on Wednesday issued notices to five-star hotels JW Marriott and Andaz in Delhi's Aerocity after inspections allegedly uncovered serious food safety and hygiene violations, including cockroach infestation, expired and spoiled food and improper storage practices. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said notices were issued to Aria Hotels and Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd, which operates JW Marriott, and Juniper Hotels Pvt Ltd, which operates Andaz at Aerocity. Food samples have been collected from both properties and further action will be decided after laboratory reports are received, the regulator said. Comments from the two hotels were not immediately available.

Cockroaches, fungal food at JW Marriott

At JW Marriott, inspectors found what the regulator described as serious deficiencies in hygiene and sanitation, including unclean utensils and food-contact surfaces, visible particulate matter in drinking water, inadequate pest control and the presence of cockroaches and fruit flies.

FSSAI said spoiled and fungal-affected food was also found. Inspectors reported fungal growth on apples, rotten tomatoes, uncovered food, damaged storage containers and improperly stored cut vegetables. The inspection also flagged inadequate segregation of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food, raising concerns over possible cross-contamination.

Deficiencies were reported across the hotel's Chinese, Indian and Italian kitchens as well as its bakery. These included pest infestation, poor sanitation, non-functional exhaust systems, inadequate allergen segregation, defective storage containers and inappropriate storage of food products. Problems were also identified in the water-bottling area, dry store, coffee shop and vegetable preparation section. Inspectors found rusting on a drinking-water storage tank, shortcomings in imported-food labelling, poor sanitation and fruit-fly infestation.

The regulator also alleged licensing and labelling violations. Certain products and materials, including paneer, khoya, chana masala and chilli, were found without the requisite licence or appropriate endorsement available for verification.

FSSAI said the hotel was carrying out retail and re-labeller activities, including retailing food products under the JW Marriott brand, without the necessary endorsement in its licence. Some packaged products carried misprinted FSSAI licence numbers or did not declare the manufacturer's complete address, while the hotel's FSSAI licence was not displayed prominently, it added.

87 kg expired sweets at Andaz

The inspection at Andaz uncovered a separate set of alleged violations, including active cockroaches near freezers, houseflies, mosquitoes in a grinding room and spider webs. Inspectors also reported finding a 'gutka' packet inside the bottling plant area. FSSAI said around 87 kg of expired sweets were found at the property, along with an expired cake base and bread packets.

Inspectors also reported duplicate date-marking over expired bread packaging. Other shortcomings included improper segregation of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food, inadequate food-handler hygiene, poor sanitation, improper food storage, inadequate temperature monitoring and deficient allergen segregation. The inspection further flagged waste-management and structural issues as well as inadequate supplier verification and receiving practices. According to the regulator, severe unpleasant odours were noticed at the property, while chillers were located directly between two bathrooms whose exhaust systems vented into the chiller section.

Samples sent for testing

FSSAI officials collected regulatory and surveillance samples of several products during the Andaz inspection, including cow ghee, vegetarian mayonnaise, creamy coconut milk powder, honey twigs, yellow masoor dal, tomato sauce, orange marmalade and coconut cookies.

The regulator has directed the hotel operator to take immediate corrective action on the deficiencies identified during the inspection and submit a compliance report with supporting evidence at the earliest. Further regulatory action against both hotels will depend on the laboratory analysis of the samples and compliance with the notices. The inspections come amid a wider FSSAI enforcement drive against food businesses and e-commerce platforms over food-safety violations, misleading claims, improper labelling and advertisements.