Festivals: food safety to be ensured

The Food Safety wing of the Health Department has decided to draw up guidelines for supplying water in tanker lorries to hotels and apartments and to make licences compulsory for individuals or agencies engaged in water supply. A decision in this regard was taken at a review meeting of district food safety officials convened by Health Secretary Rajeev Sadanandan here on Saturday.

It was decided to form squads of food safety officers to conduct inspections at eateries and other food-related businesses to ensure food safety and hygiene during the Christmas-New Year season when food businesses soar.

Food safety officials have been asked to conduct necessary inspections to make sure that only licensed catering services are serving food in all mass Christmas and New Year celebrations conducted in auditoriums, where large number of people are likely to consume food.

The officials were told to ensure that all employees in hotels and food businesses had health cards and that hotels were keeping a register of the details of the raw materials they were purchasing, including the agencies supplying them. Hotel owners who failed to comply with these conditions would have to face action. The Food Safety Commissioner, Biju Prabhakar, directed officials to conduct inspections at eateries and hotels which had been served notices earlier to ensure that these units were functioning in accordance with the safety and hygiene standards.