Jan 8, 2015

Drive to ensure food safety

Step follows State-level order

With the State School Arts Festival and the National Games around the corner, food safety squads have intensified inspection of restaurants and wayside eateries

With a mission to prevent the trade of unhygienic food during the State School Arts Festival and the National Games, special squads of the Health Department have intensified inspections of hotels, restaurants, and wayside eateries in the city.
The move follows a State-level directive to avert all possibilities of food poisoning and to prevent the entry of junk food traders without trade licences or authorisation from the authorities concerned.
In the last three days, over five hotels were served notice after inspections to improve the situation. It includes a prominent three-star hotel in the city.
Officials say that the searches will continue in the days to come. Squads currently under the control of the health wing of the city Corporation will lead the inspections.
Along with the health squads, the food safety authorities too will carry out inspections of eateries within the city limit. Licences of establishments caught for violation of hygiene norms will be suspended with immediate effect.
According to official sources, most of the wayside eateries on the Government Medical College premises here have been closed down already after conducting detailed inspections and finding serious slips. Though the closure of the outlets has affected several patients and bystanders as they depend on these suppliers when major hotels remain closed during the night time, permission to reopen them is yet to be considered by the Health Department.
Inspections by health squads under the Safe Kerala Clean Kerala campaign last month had exposed the unhygienic conditions in several restaurants, juice parlours, and wayside eateries.
Four eateries had been closed down after noticing the trade of unhygienic food items.

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