Health suffers as city devours yummy roadside food

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Cases of diarrhoea, typhoid, gastro diseases spiral; FDA can do little as it reels under staff crunch

The temptation of gulping down pani puris or devouring that tangy plate of chaat at a hawkers refuses to cease in the city. But that these seemingly lip- smacking roadside snacks contain strains of Escherichia coli bacteria, notoriously known to cause death due to diarrhoea, may not come to many as a welcome thought.
Four months down the line after the enactment of the amended Food Safety and Standards Act ( FSSA) 2006, the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) is still reeling under woes of heavy staff crunch leading to laxed implementation of the law. FDA sources suggest that even as there are 5 lakh establishments including hotels in Mumbai, not more than 159 food samples have been collected in the last four months for testing purposes.
FDA officials are now supposed to undertake regular sampling of cooked and uncooked roadside food including water- based chutneys and sauces, which serve as breeding ground for ailments like typhoid, diarrhoea and gastroenteritis.
" The food inspectors have been working extra hours to enable licence renewals for roadside hawkers and hotels. Sampling of food to test quality has however taken a major beating," stated FDA Assistant Commissioner ( food), Suresh Deshmukh.
Shockingly, the very sources of unhygienic food and water that are supposed to be sampled by FDA, have been the root cause of numerous deaths in the city.
Data from BMC health department indicates that last year there has been a massive 27 percent rise in deaths due to diarrhoea, gastroenteritis and Hepatitis B as compared to 2008.
" E- coli present in impure water- based chutneys or sauces found in road side stalls when enters the gut of the person who consumes such food to produce toxins and cause heavy fluid losses.
E coli also causes Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome that leads to rapid blood clotting and kidney failure which leads to death," explained Dr.
Amol Manerkar, General Physician practicing in Kurla ( L ward), which is one of the hotbeds for intestinal infections in city.
There are close to 200 food inspectors across Maharashtra functioning to crack down the web of unhygienic food vendors, which are the primary cause of illnesses like diarrhoea and gastroenteritis.
Sources suggest that the number of food inspectors across the state will be increased five fold over the coming months raising the count to thousand.
Failing to mention the time frame in which these recruitments are likely to happen, FDA commissioner Mahesh Zagade said, " The process of recruiting commensurate staff is on. We will see a staff influx soon after recruitment formalities are as per state rules."