Feb 18, 2018
VMC food safety officers target caterers
Vadodara: Food safety officers of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) targeted caterers on Saturday. Food and raw material samples were collected from the caterers. According to VMC officials, the checking drive targeted caterers in Alkapuri, Gorwa, New VIP Road, Makarpura and Chhani area. In all, nine samples were collected by the officials during the drive. One of the caterers was also issued a notice after it came to light that the conditions in his premises were not hygienic. Officials added that the drive was conducted in wake of the fact that the caterers were widely providing services in the wedding season and it was necessary to ensure that standards were maintained
How safe is restaurant food?
Soumya MS, a techie in Kochi, likes to try out the fare dished out by various restaurants, both small and big. The other day, she and a few of her friends visited a restaurant in Aluva and ordered biryani. It sure looked piping hot and the aroma was alluring too. But as her friend dug out the masala, there popped up a cockroach!
She says, “Given that most us are ‘paying guests’ who stay away from our homes, we are forced to rely on restaurant food. As a result, someone or the other is always down with food poisoning.” A frequent victim is a friend from north Kerala who loves his chicken and beef. “Many hotels in the city have swank interiors but nobody knows what goes on in their kitchens,” she adds.
A recent drive by the Thrikkakara Municipality Health Department revealed that seven hotels in the city were functioning in unhygienic conditions. Meat, chicken and fish were cleaned in wash basins, it was found. They were let off with a warning.
Shibu KV, Assistant Commissioner of Food Security, Kochi, confirms that many a hotel takes care to project cleanliness in the reception and dining areas but the production area leaves much to be desired. “The way they operate within the food outlets is pathetic. It is the meat items that are the most risky as they do not store them under ideal temperature conditions. The place and the manner in which they are stored are also appalling. Shawarma is another food item that often causes food poisoning. Hence, it is best if meat-based food items are avoided to the extent possible.”
In most of the medium-range hotels, those in charge are not really trained in hotel management. Acute labour shortage means that anyone is drafted in as chef or waiter, with no awareness on food safety. Shibu says this negligent attitude can never be encouraged. “We have four squads in the city to scrutinise the menace, in addition to a Quick Response Team (QRT), which takes swift actions according to the complaints they receive on a daily basis,” he says.
He points out that a few hotels have an open cooking space, which the customers can see for themselves, and lauds it as a good practice. If other hotels follow suit, it would be a good step towards healthy eating, he says.
Echoing a similar opinion is Vinoy J, a young chef, who has worked in Kochi. “I remember how fish was often cleaned in wash basins, next to the cleaning brushes and soap water. The masala was also prepared in the same surroundings. Chemical ingredients and food colour were used. The oil used was not pure coconut oil, and they would re-use it for a few days. Beef is kept in the refrigerator for days on end.”
The responsibility of storing the leftover food ingredients is often left to the cleaning staff who do not have the required knowledge to preserve them in safe conditions.
“Many of the hotels go for the cheapest available ingredients, whether it is garlic, ginger or rice.”
A former waiter on condition of anonymity recalls, “A hotel where I used to work in used to source stale chicken and use it for making Shawarma, It was the same in case of milk, as it was later used while baking cakes. The oil too was reused multiple times.”
It is the student community that suffers the most. Kurian Jacob, a final year student at Sacred Heart College, eats out three times a day because there is no ‘mess’ in his college. “We are far from choosy and have food from any outlet. It is true that we are not that health conscious. Recently, my friend, who had a glass of innocuous-looking ginger lime from a small joint was affected by food poisoning for almost three days.”
He says it is not unusual to find human hair in the food served in some food joints. “While many of them start by saying that they want to serve only healthy food, commercial considerations get the better of them not long afterwards.”
The hotels that are caught red-handed are given strict warning and shut down for a few days, Shibu says. If they continue with the same practice, they will have to permanently down the shutters, according to him. He says that his team receives a minimum of 10 complaints every day from unhappy customers.
Something that people can do on their own is to identify the hotels that are trustworthy. “The most effective method is word of mouth, and when that comes from a person close to you, one can breathe a sigh of relief. Social media groups can also act as watchdogs,” says Shibu.
The tip that he gives the layman is to avoid eating out to the extent possible, and choose only those places that are within one’s vicinity and recommended by people who have tried it out.
Substandard mawa-making unit unearthed during raid
Chhitwadi is the place which is surrounded by small and big units of mawa, paneer and other milk products which are supplied to Jaipur for consumption.
Early on Saturday morning, food officers reached the area and conducted raids in the units.
“We have seized 150kg of skimmed milk powder, 200 kg of ready mawa and 100 kg of unprepared mawa,” said Dr Narottam Sharma, chief medical health officer (Jaipur I).
The farm raided by the health department officials is situated on Chomu-Chandwaji road with name Rahul Fresh Farm. However, his owner Dinesh Sharma said, “I kept the skimmed milk power for setting paneer in my unit.”
When the health authorities inspected his firm, they found bags of skimmed milk powder. “The labourers were using the skimmed milk powder. Actually mawa is produced from fresh milk but here they were using powdered milk to produce substandard mawa,” said Virendra Singh, a food safety officer.
He said that there were three containers full of mawa and they were preparing another 150 kg of mawa using powdered milk. Singh said that though the mawa was not adulterated with any harmful substance but it was not the pure form of mawa which is sold to the consumers.
Officials alleged that selling substandard mawa is a kind of cheating with consumers. They collected eight samples of milk products from Chhitwari area and sent them for testing to government-run laboratory.
Box:
Pure versus spurious sweets
A consumer can identify sweets made of substandard mawa by its texture. The pure mawa has more fats and substandard mawa has less fats. Having more fat, the sweets made of mawa do not break but substandard mawa sweets are a little more brittle than pure mawa sweet. Mawa produced by skimmed milk powder is prepared easily taking much lesser time than pure mawa. It is relatively cheaper than pure mawa but they are sold at equal prices.
Drive for healthy pongala
Devotees purchase earthen pots for Attukal Pongala festival from a steet vendor in Thiruvananthapuram. Attukal Pongala is on March 2.
Thiruvananthapuram; The Food Safety Officials will launch a drive next week to check for adulteration in raw materials such as jaggery, ghee and condiments for pongala. Once the food stalls near festival venue become active on Thursday there will be drives to check the quality of food there also. "During the past two years, we couldn't find adulteration in jaggery. However, spoiled cauliflower and vegetables which were not washed are regularly found in Gobi Manchurian served by vendors around the venue. Cauliflower available in the city is generally high on e-coli as they grow on human waste. They are susceptible to food poisoning until treated properly. Juice corners also will come under scanner," said Food Safety officials.
"Apart from this testing will be done for the suspected use of colours. Crackdowns will be organised at hotels at Manacaud, Killipalam, Attukal and Attakulangara," he said. Three squads of food safety officers will be deployed in the core pongala zone and control rooms will be opened. As in previous years resident's associations and private parties to secure the department's authorisation to serve food on the day of pongala. Around 25 health inspector will be pressed into action on the final days of pongala
Shop owner acquitted of charges of possessing gutkha
Thane (Maharashtra), Feb 17 (PTI) A local court has acquitted a 26-year-old shop owner from Mumbra near here of the charge of possessing gutkha which is banned in Maharashtra.
District and Additional Sessions Judge AS Bhaisare, in his recent order, held that the prosecution had failed to prove the charge against Nadim Suhel Ahmed Shaikh who was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
Public Prosecutor Sangita Phad informed the court that on January 28, 2015, police personnel and sleuths of Food and Drugs Administration raided the shop owned by Shaikh and allegedly seized from his possession banned goods, including Goa Gutka 1000 and Vimal panmasala.
After hearing the prosecution and defence, the Judge acquitted Shaikh of all the charges
IITs And Other Top Institutes Fail FSSAI Food Safety Audit
NON COMPLAINT KITCHENS
The FSSAI audit found flaws like food residue in utensils which were said to be washed, kitchens were found to have rodent faeces, overflowing sinks and choked bathrooms amidst the others during the audit. The audit was conducted in accordance to the food safety and standards (food safety auditing) regulations of 2017 for the institutions – Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, Indian Institute of Science (IIS) Bangalore, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi and Jodhpur, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Bombay, Guwahati, Kozhikode, Delhi, Chennai, Roorkee, Kanpur and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata.
The Times of India reports that barring the campus kitchens of IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Roorkee which passed the test, rest all the institutions failed the audit. The campus kitchens, hostels kitchens, guesthouse kitchens and cafeterias were inspected on the basis of design, facilities, and maintenance of cooking area, usage of food-grade utensils and equipment, control of operations, the food preparation, maintenance, sanitation, personal hygiene, training and record keeping. The kitchens were to get a score above 77 out of a maximum 114 to be complaint.
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