GUWAHATI, December 7: The report of food poisoning in a KFC restaurant in Delhi has stirred up the hornets’ nest in Guwahati with people questioning the safety of food being served by the numerous restaurants, including roadside ones, in the city.
The question arose after food inspectors collecting food samples from the KFC Restaurant at Lachit Nagar in the city yesterday. The food inspectors reportedly said that if any poisoning substances are detected in the samples collected, they might take steps to close the restaurant.
Food poisoning, according to experts, is acute, often severe gastro–intestinal disorder characterized by vomiting and diarrhoea and caused by eating food contaminated with bacteria, especially bacteria of the genus Salmonella, or the toxins they produce or poisoning caused by ingesting substances, such as certain mushrooms, that contain natural toxins.
The situation in Guwahati, according to allegations, is alarming. First, the exact number of restaurants in Guwahati is not known. What is, however, seen is that there is mushroom growth of restaurants in the city and the situation of most of them, from the hygienic point of view, is pathetic.
Allegations galore that tomato sauce is manufactured in far–flung areas in the city, and generally stale materials like rotten yellow pumpkin, tomato and pepper etc., are used for the purpose. What, according to sources, even more serious is that such sauce is collected randomly by the restaurant owners in recycled bottles that are collected from the city by ragpickers. There are also allegations that the restaurant owners keep paying money to food inspectors regularly to keep their business running. If this is the situation food outside is not safe in Guwahati.
A KFC spokesperson, in a press release issued yesterday, said: “As a responsible brand, KFC is committed to following international standards and serving the highest quality products to all our customers across all our restaurants. The products served across our restaurants are sourced from best in class, state–of–the–art manufacturing facilities that are compliant with rigorous food safety standards and are audited regularly.”
“The recent news report on KFC rice being unsafe is a case of misinformation. We only use the natural colour (beta carotene) which is sourced from highly reputed international suppliers, in our Rizo rice meals,” the release said, and added: “The recent rice sample collected by FSSAI has also been analysed from an NABL accredited independent laboratory at the same time and it confirms that Tartrazine or any other synthetic colour is not present in the product. We are confident of our product quality and are working closely with the regulatory authorities in this matter who have assured that the sample is safe for consumption and no proceedings have been initiated against KFC.”
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