The restaurant sealed in Karachi over the weekend following the death of two minor siblings also had its godown sealed on Tuesday after food authorities said they found expired meat and squash bottles at the facility.
The two brothers had died on Sunday after dining out at the Arizona Grill restaurant and consuming candy from a shop outside Chunky Monkey amusement park, according to police officials. Abrar Shaikh, the director for operations of Sindh Food Authority, had subsequently sealed the restaurant.

The food authority today raided the restaurant's godown as well where it found long-expired food products.
"Hundreds of sherbet (squash) bottles that were a year past their expiry dates and around 80kg of rotten meat were found," Shaikh said.
"Three-year-old meat was being served to the customers," he added.
Shaikh, in his earlier report submitted to Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, had stated that the said restaurant was recently given a notice to improve its hygiene conditions.
Police had launched an investigation into the death of the two minors on Monday.
Officials believe that one-and-a-half-year-old Ahmad and Mohammad, 5, died from ‘food poisoning’. Their mother, Ayesha, was also admitted to a private hospital.
The autopsy was carried out at the Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) on Monday, with Dr Sheeraz Ali Khowaja, the additional police surgeon at the hospital, telling Dawn that the cause of the deaths will be disclosed in the chemical examination report.
Comments (151) Closed
Serving expired food items to the customers is a criminal activity and should be punished as such. Sealing the restaurant is a slap on the wrist.
Disgusting. I hope that Justice is served in this context. Whoever is responsible should be given an exemplary punishment
Totally unforgivable for those who place profit before the health of their customers'!
And this big rich province is so advanced that it has to send the samples to Lahore for chemical examination.
The meat itself can't be the cause. There place are packed And there would have been more incidents than just one family. Despite the fact that this place is serving hazardous food, somthing else caused the death.
So they didn't make any inspection for the last 3 years..?!
Well this is hard to believe, 3 year old meat ! Why didn't others get sick? No one in their right mind would take such a huge risk in their business and serve rotten meat. You could easily tell that by the taste. I can sense some sinister motive here, the father/husband did not get sick.
3 year old meat? Wow. Arizona Grill needs to be closed down permanently and those responsible to be charged with murders. It is also obvious that the government food authority responsible for inspections is not doing its job so the government employees need to be identified for exemplary punishments
A family lost their two flowers in good faith for eating at this eaterie. This loss will stay with the parents until they are alive and will continue creating psychological issues for the whole family. Seal this eating place for good. Confiscate owners properties unless he has insure to pay the aggrieved family. This is the only way we can stop corruption and dishonesty in restaurant business. Sincerely
Seal this restaurant and other branches, forever, legal action against owners, put them Jail first before they leave the Country.
Why food authorities wake up when serious incident happens,?Is it not their duty to check on regular basis or do they any policy or SOPs.
Serving 3 year old meat.. how can they play around with people's lives?
Not surprising at all, as even the meat stored in freezers will thaw due to load-shedding cycles, after which it is re-frozen and eventually becomes contaminated. The severest punishment should be meted to all persons responsible.
There’s something wrong with this news. This footage shows “rib eye steak” which has never been on the restaurant’s menu
I think they should be charged with Murder. It is not less than the cold-blooded murder. How can these people play with the life of common people?
Also, how would a 1.5 year old child be having rib eye steak? And how would it only affect the family and not anyone else. I think something is missing here.
Its height of inefficiency and negligence of food department...why they have not acted timely? Wether they have conducted inspections and certified the eatiery to be safest and fulfilling hygiene conditions?
This is the time , CJ must take suo moto action and IK's health department also act to revamp this corrupt department according to international standard. IK lived in foreign countries and he knows the food standard controlked and maintained in civilized countries.
This is what happen when there is no checks by government authorities and food inspection certificate are issued on bribes.
My question is why are they serving meat from USA as it’s not halal?
This is deliberate murder in cold blood
Horrible. Please, steps must be taken firmly against all shops, restaurants etc that serve adulterated or expired or similarly hazardous food to the public. Apart from fines, strict jail terms mist also be in place.
So sad! The people responsible should be prosecuted to the full extent of law.
@Ahmed bin Babar, : Those who were on the bribe take.. were the first ones to come in and raid... maybe to cover up real evidence;
What a national disgrace!! Those involved must be jailed for long time !!
If big pouch locality has that kind of hygienic problem, how bad other low income locality restaurant has hygienic problem.?
The owners also own Roasters and that restaurant should be sealed and owners arrested
And why the owner of the restaurant importing beef from USA ?
...so basically ‘grilled meat’ means expired meat as per restaurant’s dictionary. Isn’t?
This ture with pretty much all the restaurants, hopefully lesson for other restaurants!
They need to shutdown their all branches
@Aamir khan, EXACTLY !
Seal all his assett atleast
Food authorities must take stringent measures against every city.Government should issue circular to all food inspectors about regular checking of all eatery ,school canteen,hostels etc.
so where was the food authority for the past many years? we all know that not just restaurants but grocery stores mint money by changing expiry dates
So they found expired meat, can they mention what they ate? Why didn't the father get sick?
In US this will become a classic class action lawsuit. This unbelievable 3 year old meat. This restaurant should close forever.
Section 302 should be applied on the owners, with their names placed on ECL.
This is gravely tragic news. This family's entire life is ruined. This kind of negligence must be charged with criminal offense!
We are buying beef from America? You have got to be kidding me.
This used to be our favorite hang out spot back when it opened. I have kids too, i can't fathom the pain of losing a child ! i am so sorry for your loss - i hope the system steps up and takes severe action! Prayers up
so for three years no one got sick? and no one inspected the kitchen for 3 years.. where were the food inspectors? there is some other story behind this case, apparently, i hope i am wrong.
@Asif A. Shah, this is.not the first instance of this type in.karachi, jail the food inspectors.
@Ahsan Gul, agree
Meats packed in 2014 were being served? I can tell you one thing, if this meat came from the United States, it had to have come back then, no authority in the United States is going to allow any expired product to even get close to an airport or a ship.
@Amir. n, there may be worse violation being covered up. the owners names should be published.
@Ahmed, the PPP and MQMs idea of a healthy karachi and sindh.
@Zx, a forensic analysis is needed.
Almost food that is frozen at 0F can be stored indefinitely without any effect to health but only effect to taste. The sickness is probably caused by other reasons . Although I have to say that customer in a high end restaurant is not paying for expired food items !
Pakistan importing beef from US?
But is it halal?
They found outdated meat. Nothing to say they are still serving it not that those who died were served it. However, it is not the link to the deaths that is significant, but the poor management that needs to be censored. Welcome to Pakistan.
Nothing will happen as usual
Each and every restaurant in Pakistan including dhabas should be thoroughly investigated as what they are selling in the name of freshness.
Will PM Imran Khan who is my favorite in any case address the nation on such burning issue? I will also suggest that let the whole country be put on high alert and seek army help to raid all eating facilities in each and every city and town to dig out as to how many more are using expired meat and beef etc. In this case the whole lot right from the owner, managers, cooks and stewards must be arrested forthwith and tried in a court of law. I am afraid the owner must have already flown out. Alas! Many times it has been reported that expired food stuff is being consumed by my compatriots whereby investigation is conducted and a surgical strike is conducted as well but noting beyond that and thus the news dies out the injurious business keeps on flourishing. Had it happened here in Kuwait then the whole world could have seen the lot behind bars. Iqbal Hadi Zaidi
Strange. Meat imported from usa for uae. That too ribeye steak (quite expensive). Were they importing expired meat from uae? And if they were serving such old meat why not anybody else get sick? How dis a 1.5 yr old infant get poisoned by eating grilled meat?
Really sad! expired meat from 2015 in stock
They should lockdown the other branch and take all food items in custody. People of Karachi especially former customers should bring joint lawsuit against this restaurant and ask for refund. With current Chief Justice you will be managed to get lots of money. Teach them a lesson.
Make sure to ban their identities so they won’t be able to open the restaurant with another name.
Neither the Sindh gov nor Sindh food inspectors care. The modus operandi is to never give NOCs or document their findings...instead take regular bribes until the whole thing blows up in media. Since there is no paperwork, the Sindh gov officials cannot be incremated.
I am wondering and now know the reason why we have the shortage of foreign exchange. Why spend foreign exchange for beef.
The owners of this restaurant - Raja Nadeem and Raja Rizwan - are crooks. The story misses any information on whether they have arrested the owners yet?
This is Sind PPP. Nothing will happen.
Time and again we see that our fellow countrymen will do anything to enhance their earnings without care about the possible consequences to other humans. Serving of expired food which is several years past its expiry date is like serving poison. If proven, the owners should be tried for murder . May be that will put some fear in others who may be doing the same thing right now.
This is criminal activity
@Tariq, Lahore, Not just health, but life of the customers.
We live in a country where 3 years old food is served, milk is not less than poison, and the gutter bagicha vegetable is served (khi). No ambulance is there on time, hospitals do no provide first aid, and police training sessions are done once in a blue moon ( the justice for Amal case).
We cannot accuse government for everything. The problem is within us, we are inhuman. A politican or bureaucrat cannot be solely accused because he is from us he is not an alien.
How can the administration of Arizona serve 3 years old food. How can even the chef even cook this old meat. A normal and sane human cannot do such an act
A nation cannot grow when there is no unity, when everyone is thinking of their individual profit without even being guilty that they are creating a cumulative loss for the society.
Now the question is are we even human being? Or do we now need to rethink and redefine what humans are?
Nothing will happen, this is Pakistan. The land of the pure where only poor are punished even for no crime and rich and powerful are above the law and are not punished even if they have committed the crime. Round and round we go...
@A Shah, Sure, if you are indeed correct, than you should not be afraid to dine at a place like this.
Trust me, nothing will happen to you, as usual! So enjoy that 5-year old meat!
@Aamir khan, It is Halal. Read the label properly.
@AW, . Not 3 years but almost 4 years after production. The label speaks about beef been exported from Wisconsin USA to some company in UAE . The production date is 26/11/2014. The Arizona Grill Zam Zama Karachi may have directly imported this from Dubai, or some importer in Pak. The investigation must be expanded upto the importer who imported the said beef from UAE. Pak itself produce sufficient beef, meat & chicken, no need to allow import of eatables from UAE, or if there is shortage of beef, import livestock cows & bulls from Australia, Ireland, they have plenty of healthy cows for export. The beef which killed two Pak siblings was a trash its destination was garbage not a restaurant.
To ALL the experts posting comments here,Please read ! Do you see the Letters UAE ? Do you see Arabic language used there? Do you see "HALAL" ? most probably the meat was sent to American restaurants like Chili's, Cheese Cake Factory, Sizzlers,Hard Rock Cafe,Tony Roma's in Dubai,etc and when the meat expired or close to expiry Date,they sell it to Pakistanis.Pakistani Buyers buy lots of expired foods etc and sell it to Fancy restaurants in Pakistan. They should follow the TRAIL!
No surprises -- it is well know that all wasted, partially consumed and expired meat from UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia is dumped in pakistan
pakistani "importers' literally buy meat that has been thrown in dumpsters and garbage bins in the above Arab countries, and they import it as "high end" meat into pakistan
Meat expired in February 2015?! -- that is about 4-years old!
pakistanis import all thrown-out and partially-consumed food from arab countries into pakistan, and pakistanis pay "premium" for that expired waster food because pakistanis feel like arabs because the meat is coming from arab countries!
@Lahori kid, You can easily fool the system by certifying on export documents that this is not for human consumption but for other purposes like poultry feed etc. or they imported in huge quantity once in 2014 and are using the same batch till now.
@Ahmed bin Babar, even if they did an inspection corruption is so high in Pakistan that they would pay off insperctors
@Aamir khan, you are worried about Halal when two kids died? not everyone follows your Halal story
@BULLPITAJI, why not?
The question remains what the inspectors were doing for the last three years when this restaurants was selling kebabs made from expired meat. Merely, giving a notice, just to fill-in blanks, does not suffice. The sad part of the story is this that such restaurants which are many doing thriving business with connivance of food inspectors, by using expired meat & even meat from dead animal dying from disease or other natural causes, preparing & serving food to unsuspecting customers. Therefore, to impart justice to the family who have lost their little angels, the culprits from food department should also be booked in this premeditated murders. The sad part of the story is that this calamity has befallen on this unfortunate family visiting a high end restaurant located in posh area, one shudders to visualize those other such eateries spread over this metropolis of 17 M plus inhabitants, would be using while serving cooked food to their unsuspecting customers w/o any checking whatsoever.
@HB , I understand what you are trying to say here, but 4 years old? I don't think so, even the frozen foods that are once thawed have a shelf life not to exceed 72 hours, how long were they thawed, and where, and how long before they were used? Are the questions that need to be answered. And that too in a perfect scenario, but meat that was packaged 4 years ago doesn't even close to be talked about in this conversation..
@Aamir khan, it's written vert clearly, it's Halal. Are you trying to make a fake news?
@Hamid Ali, read more carefully, then you can find out.
Auction the restaurant and give 50% proceeds to the family and other 50% to dam fund
First of all why this meat is imported from USA. As far i recall there is no meat shortages in Pakistan. In reality Pakistani beef is thousands time healthier than US meat. In USA heavy doses of harmful hormones and chemical cancer causing feeding is given to animals for fast and heavy meat growth for profit and its allowed. Therefore US and western meat is react fast to become poisonous. Temperature is maintained to control these poisonous bacteria and must be consumed with in date. Most of Pakistani animals are demostic animals so they chemical free. Those who thinks westerners meat or food is healthy they live in fools world.
@Raza, No the Analysis was done in JPMC Karachi
Possible the meat was bought only recently already expired at 1/10th the cost.....as "not for human consumption".
Is this halal meat What have gone wrong with us Why are after money
Need to find who is importing this expire meat and who allowed import Pakistan have plenty of own meat Wonder who trying to destroy Pakistani
Seal all international restaurant forever, legal action against owners, put them Jail first before they leave the Country. Because not only expire meat also is this Halal? Our food authorities also must be punished
@Aamir khan, read the label of the pic of meat Are you saying you cannot get halal meat in america think before you write something please dont be so ignorant.
This is an attempted murder case. The greedy culprits have to be brought to justice. They are the Willful Murderers.
In addition; how did the Food Inspector(s) miss the restaurant's godown or Freezer in their last. They should also be held responsible for their Criminal Negligence, which culminates into the death of two innocent kids.
Apparently, for last three years no Food Inspector checked that godown or Freezer.
No doubt; the nexus between Greed and Corruption Kills!
This meat was exported to UAE that was sent to Pakistan from your Arab brothers. Read the sticker!
Only poison can kill babies like this.
Due to massive demand there is no other option left practically.
@Lahori kid, hard to believe buddy but a lot things come from other parts of the world that we consume not being synical or excusing the restuarant what they didif it was the fault of the restuarant could have been the sweets caused allergic reaction
Greedy food sellers are criminals and should be treated as mass murderers. If by any chance, a feast could have been prepared with such bad material and many people could have died! An example must be set to warn other food sellers!
All Food Eateries must be examined and inspected regularly and informed to the general pubic.
I thought meat is always expired.
Best is to eat home...please learn Pakistani society.
@Ahmed, Why do we have a government, police, food authority collecting salary if everything has to be done by CJ taking suo moto action?
The cause of death cannot be an expired meat. Meat products can be freezed for unlimited time period and they wont go bad if frozedn properly. They may lose their freshness. The cause of death have to be something else then an expired meat. Let wait for autopsy report. I am guess it most likely a food allergy
Arizona Grill offered 50% off on every second meal for lunch, makes sense now, they wanted to clean out their expired meat backlog
Food Authority should also be held to task. They are equally responsible. If stringent implementation of rules and regulations had been applied, this unfortunate tragedy may not have happened.Food outlets in posh areas take the advantage of location to get away with criminal activities like this.........
@Syed ji, As a nation we have enough problems . We should solve these rather than look at things into a provincial or a party issue.
@hello, it depends on one’s immune system. It is much easier for kids to fall sick due to food poisoning given their developing immune systems.
@Aamir khan, USA does have halal meat. What meat do you thnk Muslims in USA eat?
@BULLPITAJI, because expired meat is extremely cheap.
Do Pakistanis realize that this meat from Wisconsin USA is not Zabiha Halal !
The thing I wonder is how they were able to import such meat? No way they have been storing it since 2014, but rather bought it after expiration for free. People have difficulty bringing in 2 laptops at customs, and they were able to import a lot of expired meat.
@AW,
4 year old meat.
@AW, I agree with you brother. This goes for the branches they have all over the country.
see the import into Pakistan of an american good which expired in UAE and shipped to Pakistan. and we paid precious forex to get it in. How did this product pass customs? are these what the country needs at this stage? allowing unscrupulous importers to bring in Expired goods?
Why do such things not happen routinely in all our neighborhood? We need to introspect and make the correct choices. Enough is enough. Pakistan zindabad.
I think there are two parties involved in this incident, one is the restaurant management and secondly the food inspector, as I see in the pic the date of expiration stipulated on the meat is 24 02 15... almost 4 years no one from the food department ever checked their food products...should I call it negligence, or purely premeditated ..if someone feeds that kind of expired food.. having said that we still need to ascertain the cause of death..and wait for the forensic report.. but the Question remains who will ascertain that the report is correct.. back to square one... corruption is the biggest evil in our society
Restaurant sealed, very good, should not open again, still to see.
@Ahmed bin Babar, ,well said.the food inspector also must be arrested.
If restaurant belonged to a rich person, nothing will happen. If it belonged a medium or low class, all the laws will be acted upon.
A lot of people are questioning if the meat is halal when it clearly says that on the label. Food inspection authorities are much more active in the US. So if a butchery/ slaughter house says its halal, it most probably is. These slaughter houses get routine inspections
Hold them really accountable through jail time...
@Aamir khan, US is dumping cheap meat and food into poorer countries.And by the way do parents feed beef to young ones even at the age of one and half years, in Pakistan. Human body at this tender age is not developed to digest meat.
Why are they using imported meat? Can't they buy fresh from a local butcher?
This confirms one thing, the health department authorities failed, the expired meats have been sitting at the facility all this time, dates written all over them, where were the authorities all this time? They too need to be held responsible
American origin of the meat is astonishing. What is the authenticity that the meat was halal as well? Who is going to check all those lavish-looking eateries out there? Which kinda beef was it? Any knowledge that the meat belongs to which animal? No check and balance in this country!
Expiration dates do not dictate if meat or produce is edible, it dictates when the producer thinks their food is best with origional flavours. Slime, mold, maggots, discoloration and sour smell, if none of these are observed, your food is safe for consumption.
@Ghouse, totally agree
@Aamir khan, it says its halal, most meat come from usa, new zealand and australia.
@Salman, I disagree, its not about what the producer thinks, its about health laws that apply, Foods frozen serve only one purpose, under the law when packaged for import and export, it extends their shelf life, within the guidelines, has nothing to do with slime or taste.
Commonsense suggests that if this indeed was the source of toxicity then there would be far more ill people than from the one family.
There must be a smuggling network in Pakistan which gets hold of expired products form overseas and sells them locally. I m sure pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food and beverage industry is heavily involved in nefarious practice.
@It : Why are you blaming the US govt. for this selfish act of a thief ? The expired meat over here is immediately removed from the shelf and disposed off or given to the dog food industry, where it is cleaned and turned into dog/cat food. We have to pay them to pick up the meat from our store. Now these Pakistani thieves buy these packages and export it to Pakistan. Rectify your source.
Ok....
Why in the world would you import from USA...You have good meat products available locally.
A case of Manslaughter should be made which would also be a learning lesson for others. There is no value for life these days. This chain of restaurants charge exorbitant prices and should provide food above par.
@Zx, Children , especially if they have additional health problems are more vulnerable than others.
@Amir. n, It is common for parents to share a part of their order with children. They do not eat much and a full size order will waste food and money for the parents.
Meat is not good for humans either 3 yr old or 1 yr old or fresh one. Vegetarianism is good way of life. The human teeth and our long intestine not made for meat consumption. We don't have canine teeth like carnivorous animals that's why its cooked to soften and consumed. More meat eaters, more global warming. I also eat chicken.
I don’t buy it. Just because they found old meat in the fridge, doesn’t mean thy were actually cooking it. They probably needed to be thrown out instead stored inside fridge. Was all meat expired?
FYI, look at the Label on the bottom left. It says # 38-UAE. This product was exported to UAE from USA by American Foods group. The company in Pakistan must have brought it from UAE. It is very common in meat industry to freeze beef when it is close to expiration date to protect it from spoilage. The meat should be tested for Escherichia Coli O157: H7 to confirm if it caused food poisoning.
i wonder what would be the feeling of people who had been eating their. They should file case.
@Aamir khan, please read the label again. We do have halal meat in the US.
Shouldn’t government fire food inspectors for overlooking the dates of meat and juices expired dates in their storages? These meats and juices may have thaw several times during power outages for last several years, which itself created bacteria’s in the meat. Hope they should go now and check every hotels storage areas for expired stuff. Even thesebacteria infested meat shouldn’t even fed to animals.
BEEF is the most dangerous meat, leads to Alzheimer's disease and should not be eaten.
The failure on part of health department is equally responsible for this to happen as much as the eatery itself. There seems to be more than what meets the eye. There must have been other people eating on the same day and would be vulnerable if the overall quality standards of the restaurants are low as it does not seem likely to be one-off exception. On the other hand has it been proved that these expired meat have actually caused the food positioning (if ever it has been served to the family) and not anything else that has been consumed by the deceased later / earlier. CJP should question Authorities alongside the eatery as this is bound to happen if authorities are not taken to task for causing the restaurants to implement food quality standards commensurate with the prices that they charge /rip-off from public.
Where were the officials who are supposed to ensure that these restaurants are not using rotten and expired food???
Made in America Never here ! America is continent North America and South America! Fake sticker for made in America !
No Value for human life. Such a shame.
The police said they found 3 year old Expired meat in the Warehouse, that is fine. What I want to know is how they arrived at the conclusion this expired meat was being served? If you goto ANY restaurant warehouse, you will without a doubt find expired products in their inventory. They are lazy in throwing away inventory.
And the cause of death has still not been given.
Unfortunate incident but justice to be prevailed after a thorough investigation
@Aamir khan, : This is the problem. As you have missed to see the sign of Halal that is printed on the pakage, the same way it possible that the importers, custom authories and the cook did not care to read the expiry date on it either. My guess is this expired meat had been imported from the gulf countries at the throw away prices as in the case of used cooking oil from the fast food chains from the same gulf countries. There are no check and balances or awareness in the country to control such practices.
I am surprise, Product of America. Is that Halal meat?
Lets see if justice is served
@Simon, Expired meat is imported at very low cost.
Where is FIA? Have they arrested owner of this restaurant?
Why American meat? Can't we have "Made in Pakistan", it will save foreign exchange reserves. Wish Imran can start the Make in Pakistan drive to make us self reliant.