An incident was reported on Thursday morning from Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, where a customer found a worm in a dish served at the popular Rameshwaram Cafe outlet. The customer alleged that the worm was discovered inside the pongal he had ordered for breakfast. According to him, when he initially raised a complaint, the staff allegedly tried to downplay the issue instead of addressing it responsibly.

He further claimed that it was only after he began recording a video, showing the worm in a spoonful of pongal and capturing the staff's reaction, that they began to apologise. The staff later offered a full refund of ₹300 for the dish.

In the video, the customer is seen pointing out the worm in the food, while also discussing with another customer whether the matter should be escalated to the cafe's owner via Instagram. At one point, a staff member is heard asking if he had spoken inappropriately, indicating the tension at the scene.

At the time of filing this report, no official statement had been released by Rameshwaram Cafe regarding the incident. Rameshwaram Cafe, a Bengaluru-based brand, is known for its chain of South Indian restaurants and enjoys popularity among both locals and tourists. However, this is not the first time the brand has come under scrutiny.

In May last year, several outlets of the cafe in Hyderabad were inspected by the Telangana Food Safety Department. Officials had then recovered several expired and mislabelled food items, including 100 kilos of urad dal that had expired in March 2024, 10 kilos of expired curds, and 8 litres of expired milk. The recent incident has once again raised serious concerns about hygiene and food safety standards at prominent food chains.