A dinner at Mumbai’s JW Marriott took an unexpected turn after prominent cardiologist Dr Ashok Seth spotted a baby cockroach crawling around his table at the hotel’s Romano restaurant on Saturday evening.
Seth, chairman of the Fortis Healthcare Medical Council and Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, shared the incident on X on Sunday, humorously naming the unexpected guest “Roachie”. He said the insect was running around the dishes and refused to leave despite attempts to persuade it to move.
The cardiologist said the sight eventually took away his appetite and he and his companions left without finishing their meal.
‘Maybe wanted pizza and not pasta’
In his social media post, Seth sarcastically wrote that the baby cockroach appeared to want to share their dinner and joked that it “maybe wanted pizza and not pasta”.
He later tagged Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, along with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and JW Marriott.
Seth referred to being in Mundhe’s jurisdiction and suggested that the FDA commissioner might look into the matter.
Why cockroaches are a food-safety concern
The incident has raised broader questions about hygiene in food-service establishments. Cockroaches can carry disease-causing organisms from contaminated environments and can contribute to food contamination, making pest control an important part of food-safety management.
Seth said customers expect high standards of hygiene at luxury hotels, particularly when they are paying premium prices. He also described the incident as embarrassing because foreign delegates were dining with him at the time.
Tukaram Mundhe’s food-safety crackdown
The incident comes amid increased food-safety enforcement in Maharashtra under FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe.
Mundhe took charge in May 2026 and has led inspections and raids targeting restaurants, hotels, food manufacturers, street vendors and major food chains. Reuters reported that more than 3,000 food-safety raids had been conducted since he assumed the role, with several establishments facing licence or permit suspensions.
The Maharashtra FDA has also recently suspended licences of several Mumbai eateries following inspections that found alleged hygiene and food-safety violations.
JW Marriott yet to respond
As of the NDTV report, JW Marriott had not publicly responded to Seth’s complaint.
The reported sighting itself does not establish the extent of any hygiene problem at the hotel, but it has prompted questions about the restaurant’s pest-control and food-safety practices and whether any regulatory inspection will follow.
