Dish dangerous

In 2010, a British newspaper had reported that over half of Indian restaurants in the UK were likely to make customers sick. The study said it was “a combination of culture and language” that led to poor hygiene in Indian restaurants in the UK.
The report added staff at Indian establishments “just couldn’t understand the language and were unaware of food laws”. That was two years back, in another country. On August 10, the horror was closer to home. The show-cause notices issued last week to Mainland China and Pulla Reddy sweet shop at Somajiguda for not maintaining hygiene surprised many. “It was a case of cooked meat lying around for a long time and instances of severe hygiene worries,” says L. Vandan Kumar, additional commissioner (health and sanitation).
Inspection of eateries are a routine affair and all restaurants have to undergo them. While conducting raids, officials take into consideration aspects like water availability, storage of food, washing area, etc. “During the raid, it came to light that the washing area and the place for cooking were not up to the mark. The food available at that time was also two days old. So we disposed it and served them a notice,” says chief medical officer Shalini Devi.
Mainland China, on the other hand, maintains that “it was not a surprise raid but a monthly check that took place at 11 o’clock in the morning, before the restaurant starts its business”. G. Pulla Reddy was unavailable for comment. “The tricky part about food poisoning is that you can fall sick after eating food at home, at the road side and even at a five-star hotel,” says Harold Robin, hygiene manager for Park Hyatt. “You’ll fall sick only after two-three days after eating spoiled food.”
With an internal laboratory located at the hotel, it’s Harold’s duty to supervise and ensure that food and safety system is duly implemented. “I check the restaurants every day and when there is a supervising body, the chances of going wrong are less,” he says. About his views on whether restaurants should have CCTV cameras in the kitchen area, he says, “I don’t feel that CCTV cameras are required at all. Only when the restaurants are not following the rules, can you think of such a concept.”
“Restaurants are supposed to follow Food Safety and Standard Act, 2009 as these are the standard guidelines. We also follow the Food Safety Modernisation Act, these are international guidelines,” he adds.
A recurrent complaint against restaurants is that of recycling stale food. “It’s mostly about planning how much business you’ll have in a day. We make sure there is stock rotation and we purchase everything fresh. Plus, we don’t serve buffets as a lot of wastage takes place in that concept and the chances of food getting stale are very high,” he says. And what if after all this there is still some food leftover? “Well, we’ll have to throw it away then.”
SAFETY POINTERS
* A person suffering from skin diseases or even a cold should not be allowed to serve
* Cases of suspicion too can be brought to the attention of authorities
* You may need to submit “sealed” and “signed” samples, signed in the presence of witnesses
* If just one person is affected, instead of a few, it cannot be termed food poisoning
For more information log onto www.fssai.gov.in