Bhubaneswar: After stale and frozen meat was seized from a KFC outlet in Bhubaneswar’s Jaydev Vihar during a raid conducted by Odisha Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Department on Tuesday, concerns are being raised over the quality of food being served by international food chains in the state.
Reacting to the development, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty took to social media to question as to why an international food chain would compromise with the health of people in Odisha. “The so-called “largest food chain on Earth,” KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken), is selling food that allegedly does not meet the required standards. We cannot call such food healthy. Why should an international food chain like KFC compromise with the health and well-being of the people of Odisha? If food standards are being violated, it is not only illegal but immoral as well. It is time to say NO to KFC products,” he wrote on X.
The so-called “largest food chain on Earth,” KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken), is selling food that allegedly does not meet the required standards. We cannot call such food healthy.
Why should an international food chain like KFC compromise with the health and well-being of the… pic.twitter.com/ilvEVLPk4M
— Dr Lenin Mohanty (@DrLeninMohanty1) September 1, 2026
According to reports, KFC was served a notice by the department, following the seizure. Similar raids were conducted at other reputed food chain outlets like Mc Donald’s, Dominos and Burger King. From these outlets, the food safety officers had seized stale and substandard food items. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has destroyed the seized materials, reports claimed. Warnings had been issued to these outlets. The main focus on these raids was on sanitation, hygiene and expiry date of raw materials.
Meanwhile, experts have pointed out how such outlets often violate the food safety norms.
Arun Kumar Chatterjee, a senior food safety officer, told in an interview to an Odia news channel that one of the major violations are related to storage of food items. “These outlets violate the food safety norms by attempting to preserve food items beyond their shelf life in the deep freezer. Beyond the shelf life, the food value of the item is degraded even if it is kept in freezer. Moreover, they fail to record time and temperature properly for the food items,” he said.
Last month, a team from the Cuttack Municipal Corporation’s Health Department had conducted an inspection at the KFC outlet in Badambadi area following concerns related to food safety and hygiene. Discrepancies were reportedly found in food billing and the system used for preserving food items.
OdishaBytes, however, couldn’t contact KFC officials for their comments on the issue. Earlier, such an incident was also reported from Mangaluru. A KFC outlet in Mangaluru was sealed after a customer alleged that a Chicken Peri Peri Leg ordered online was stale and tasted bad, reported India Today. The complaint had prompted Karnataka Health Minister UT Khader to warn of strict action against food safety violations.
