In a chiller, a dead rat was found frozen in a block of ice allegedly sourced from an ice-manufacturing factory in Junnar, raising questions about hygiene and public health here on Wednesday.
The discovery was made by a wholesale and retail ice vendor who supplies the bulk ice blocks to factories, hotels, restaurants and even street vendors selling different types of chilled drinks like fruit or dry fruit juices and milk-shakes, sugar-cane juice, lassi-chhaas-thandais, syrup-sherbet waters, ice-golas, or desserts like faloodas, etc., that are savoured by thousands daily.
When the shocked vendor saw the dead rodent sticking out of its frozen rat hole -- from the ice-block purportedly sourced from a Junnar unit -- he and others clicked photos/video clips, which have gone viral and sparked howls of protest among the citizenry on social media.
Many have raised accusing fingers at the Pune district officials, state Food and Drugs Administration and other concerned agencies for the severe lapse at the height of summer when ice and ice-based foods-desserts are in great demand.
Rattled by the alien in the ice, furious locals have demanded that the relevant agencies should immediately conduct raids and check whether the health-hygiene parameters are being adhered to or not and act on the matter.
The development comes barely days after people found samosas 'stuffed' with used condom packs, tobacco, pebbles and sand that were served at the staff canteen of an automobile major in the twin city of Pimpri-Chinchwada.
The Pune Police have booked a total of five persons belonging to an external private food caterer, while one was arrested and presently cooling his heels in judicial custody till April 22 as further probe is underway, said Senior Police Inspector Dnyaneshwar Katkar of Chikhli Police Station.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
Relief For Homebuyers Who Booked Flats Under Subvention Plan
Taj Opens its 28th Gateway Hotel in Pune InterGlobe plans to open 13 economy brand hotels across India by 2015 Carlson Rezidor to hire 9,000 people in India by 2015 World's Largest Isolated Tribe Makes Rare Appearance In New Footage 1 Passenger Dies As Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express Derails In UP What Trump Shooter Posted Before Assassination Attempt Shraddha Kapoor Is The Stree In A Red Benarasi Saree You Can't Ignore Madhya Pradesh's CBI Move: Agency Needs Written Consent To Probe Cases German Man, 60, Seventh Person To Be Likely "Cured" Of HIV: Doctors Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.