Eateries have their way as authorities doze

Despite concerns raised about hygiene, the authorities are yet to conduct inspections and raids.

A few months back, the raids on various eateries in the district by the Food and Safety Department had unearthed some ‘stale’ facts about the food being served to the people. However, the initial enthusiasm on the part of the Health Department seems to have died down.
Despite the Monsoon triggering ‘hygiene concerns’, the authorities are yet to initiate any step in this regard and according to the sources, no inspection has been conducted in any eatery in the city recently. “As per the Food Safety Standards Act, the eateries must follow some norms. Mainly, the workers in the eateries should have health cards and the entire space, especially kitchen, must be kept clean. The kitchen must be painted white. Moreover, the eateries should keep certificates that prove the quality of water used. However, many are still functioning under unhygienic condition and the Food and Safety Department are turning a blind eye towards the issue,” sources said.
According to the details collected from the department using a Right to Information Act (RTI), they have not yet taken any action against the hotel owners who were found to have provided stale and unclean food for customers last year. “The department had conducted raids on as many as 256 eateries in the district. They have also collected the samples of the stale food for tests. However, no concrete action has been taken against the eateries till now. The sample testing are not yet been completed,” the RTI reveals. Meanwhile, the Hotels and Restaurants Association members said the eateries were maintaining hygiene. “We are sticking to all the norms as per the Food Safety Standards Act,” they said.
District Food Safety Officer Ajit Kumar refuted the allegations and said they were conducting inspections at hotels and restaurants.
“Last week, we have conducted inspections at the eateries in the eastern side of the district. We have also suspended the licences of few hotels found flouting norms,” he said.