Shawarma turns villain again

• Aadhil Muhammed undergoing treatment at Udayagiri Multi-Speciality Hospital

Two months after it first struck, shawarma has turned villain once again. A Plus One student who reportedly consumed shawarma from an eatery on Kozhikode Railway Station Link Road has been admitted to a hospital at Changanassery, in critical condition.
The licence of the restaurant has been cancelled after seizing stale food items in a raid conducted by the Food and Safety officials.
According to the Food and Safety officials, a student of Silver Hills High School and native of Kovoor, Aadhil Mohammed, 16, bought shawarma from Hot Buns Arabian Restaurant on his way to Changanassery on Friday, to participate in an interschool basketball tournament. He consumed shawarma during his journey in train at around 7 pm.
Aadhil was admitted to a private hospital in Changanassery, after he felt uneasiness and started vomiting. Later, it was found that the he was affected by food poison through the shawarma he had consumed.
Subsequently, Food and Safety officials reached the restaurant and conducted search. Meanwhile, the employees of the eatery allegedly manhandled the officials and mediapersons who arrived at the spot hearing the incident.
AIYF and Yuvamorcha activists held a protest rally in front of the restaurant and a tense situation prevailed in the area.
As the protest and raid were on, Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi asked the shop owners to down the shutters in protest against the raid. Meanwhile, the DYFI activists held a rally urging the owners to open shops.
They warned that if the shops were not open then, it would not be allowed to open from the next day onwards. Police officials from Town Police station reached the spot. Later, KVVES called off the stir.
Food and Safety officials said that they had received more than three complaints regarding the food items served in the same restaurant in a period of one month. They also informed that they would file a case against the KVVES members who manhandled them when they were on duty at the restaurant. A 21-year-old Hotel Management graduate Sachin Mathew had died in July owing to food poisoning caused by shawarma. The incident resulted in a temporary ban on shawarma.

Hotel licence suspended

KOZHIKODE: The District Food Safety Commissionerate temporarily suspended the licence of a restaurant here when a youth took ill allegedly after eating shawarma from there. Adil Mohammed hailing from Chevayur in the city had eaten shawarma at the ‘Hot Buns’ restaurant on Friday before travelling to Changanassery to participate in a basketball tournament. However, on reaching Changanassery he was taken ill and admitted to a private hospital in a serious condition. Subsequently, the food safety officers conducted a raid at the hotel. But the Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi took out a protest march against the raids and prevented collection of food samples from the hotel.

“The food safety officers could not collect food samples from the restaurant. So, it cannot be ascertained whether shawarma is the cause of the youth’s illness. But, we found that the restaurant was preparing food in unhygienic conditions. So, the licence has been temporarily suspended as per Section 32 (2) of the Food Safety Act,” said A. Mohammed Rafi, the District Licensing Authority. Rafi said that the authorities had given sufficient warnings to the restaurant owner to improve its hygiene standards after a raid on September 9. A case has also been registered against the leaders of the protest march for obstructing the duty of public officials.

KAALAI KATHIR NEWS

Ban sought on sale of gutka, pan masala Symbiosys Technologies CEO serves notice on govt

Symbiosys Technologies chief executive officer O Naresh Kumar addressing a press conference in Visakhapatnam on Saturday (Photo HANS)

Visakhapatnam: Chief executive officer (CEO) of Symbiosys Technologies O Naresh Kumar has sent a registered legal notice to the government on why tobacco products, mostly non-smoking gutka and pan masala, should not be banned in view of public health.Addressing a press conference here, Mr Naresh Kumar said pan masala and gutka contained tobacco, which is injurious to health and causes cancer.

Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Goa and Delhi governments have already banned these products in their States, he said.Mr Naresh Kumar said there were nine lakh deaths in India due to tobacco usage and 90 per cent of them were due to oral cancer as per the reports of the Ministry of Health.

The Symbiosys Technologies CEO said India has one of the highest rates of oral cancer in the world due to usage of tobacco, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).He said college and school children were getting addicted to chewing pan masala and gutka as the local authorities were not preventing the sale as per the regulations.

The Cigarettes and Tobbaco (Prohibition of Advertisements and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003, which prevents the sale of tobacco products to people below 18 years of age and sale within 100 yards of any educational institution, is not being implemented in Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad, he said.

Mr Naresh Kumar said the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and the Prohibition and Restriction on Sale, 2011, effective from August 1, 2011, specified that tobacco and nicotine shall not be used in any food product.

This was not implemented by the Public Health Department of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) or the police, he lamented. “Hence I served a legal notice on the government represented by various officers,” Mr Naresh Kumar said. P Vishnu Kumar Raju was also present at the press conference.

DINAMALAR NEWS

Food safety officers of civic bodies to be shifted to Food and Drugs Administration

NASHIK: Eight food safety officers (FSOs) in civic bodies in the Nashik division are to be merged with the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) soon. The FDA has sent a proposal to the state to merge eight FSOs from four municipal corporations in the Nashik division with the FDA.

Earlier, the food and adulteration Act was in force in Maharashtra. The municipal corporations had to implement the law in their jurisdictions, while it was implemented by the FDA beyond municipal limits. The registration and licences were also given by the municipal corporations in their jurisdictions. But after the amendment in food and adulteration Act, the state introduced the new act— the food safety and standard Act, 2006.

Accordingly, the accountability of implementing the law in the jurisdictions of municipal corporations and municipal councils was entrusted with the FDA. As per the new act, the posts of food inspectors were converted to FSOs. Presently, there are still eight FSOs with municipal corporations in the Nashik division, but they are working for the FDA.

Speaking to TOI, a senior FDA official said, "There are eight FSOs with four municipal corporations and a municipal council in the Nashik revenue division, but they are working for the FDA. We have sent the proposal to the state for their merger with the FDA. Out of the eight FSOs, two are from NMC, two from Malegaon Municipal Corporation (MMC), one from Manmad Municipal Council, two from Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation (AMC) and one from Jalgaon Municipal Corporation (JMC)."

He added, "These eight FSOs will be merged with the FDA once we get the state's approval. Nashik divisional office of FDA, includes five districts Nashik, Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, Dhule and Nandurbar. We have around 35 FSOs in Nashik division, including 15 in Nashik district, five in Jalgaon, eight in Ahmednagar district and seven jointly for Dhule and Nadnurbar districts. We are functioning as per the food safety and standard Act, which came into effect from 2011. Different assignments have been given to them and each FSO has been given some specific target of collecting samples and conducting inspections."