Canteen facilities in 4 private colleges inspected

BHOPAL: Waking up to health risk to students from contaminated food and unhygienic conditions, FDA authorities inspected canteen and hostel facilities of four private colleges in the city on Raisen road on Thursday.

The FDA action came for the first time after the enactment of the new Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) 2006. All hostels and canteens on campus will now have to register under the FSSA.
Taking no chance, health authorities have begun to take notice of health risks to students from contaminated food and unhygienic conditions on campus canteen. Food and drug administration (FDA) inspectors raided hostels in three colleges - Oriental Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Lakshmi Narain College of Technology (LNCT), Trinity College of Engineering and Bansal Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).
FDA inspectors found 4 kg of besan or gram flour at OSIT and vegetables at LNCT not fit for human consumption. "Stale edibles were destroyed," said FDA inspector Arunresh Patel.
"The colleges were told to adhere to the FSAA norms. We have not sent any sample for laboratory test," said Patel. "The condition of a refrigerator in one of the hostels looked bad as if it was not cleaned for long time," he added.
The raids came close on the heels of the incident on March 29, wherein about a dozen hostel inmates of the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) had fallen sick with viral Hepatitis after reportedly consuming contaminated water at hostel No.4.
"MANIT incident was an eye opener. If students can fall ill after drinking contaminated water in a premier institute, what about other engineering colleges? We have taken an initiative to check the situation in other colleges and private hostels of the city," said District chief medical and health officer Dr Pankaj Shukla.
In many cases reported in private and government-run hospitals, lack of hygiene on campus and hostels was observed. "Gastrointestinal and skin infections are common among students. It can be attributed to lack of hygiene," said JP hospital superintendent Dr Veena Sinha.
More raids are likely in coming days.