Contaminated Juice Causes Jaundice, Diarrhoea
Chennai: The heat of the summer is shimmering off the road. What could be better than an ice-cold beverage?
Just about anything else if it’s coming from the neighbourhood juice stall.
Almost
every fresh fruit juice stall and vendor in Chennai uses ice made for
industrial purposes that is manufactured in the hundreds of unlicenced
units that dot the city. The ice contains a variety of germs and
disease-causing bacteria, including Escherichia coli and salmonella.
Health
experts in the city report a sudden spurt in cases of jaundice, typhoid
and diarrhoea and say an increase in consumption of beverages chilled
with contaminated ice is the most likely cause of people falling ill.
A
TOI investigation of ice factories, retail outlets and fruit shops in
the city found that the manufacturing, supply, storage and use of ice
are completely unmonitored.
Ice manufacturing units in places
like Thiruvottiyur, Royapuram, Royapettah, Mylapore and Ambattur operate
in filthy conditions. They do not have any quality control systems or
concerns about hygiene. The units make ice from untreated water drawn
from borewells or supplied by water tankers. The units use chemicals to
speed up the freezing process and store the huge blocks of ice in squalid storerooms. Wholesalers transport the ice in dirty sacks for sale.
“Most
roadside vendors make do with industrial ice, which is unfit for human
consumption,” said S Elango, former director of public health.
Chennai Ice Manufacturers
Association secretary J Chandreshkaran said the difference in price
forces juice outlets to use industrial ice. “There are few takers for
ice made of RO-treated water. A block of industrial ice costs 1.50 per
kg wholesale and retails at around 4 per kg. Ice from RO-treated water
costs 4 per kg wholesale and the retail price can be as high as 12 per kg.”
With adults and children falling ill, people in the city are worried.
“People
are obviously consuming more chilled juice these days because it is
summer. Children are most vulnerable to diseases caused by germs in
juice or ice candy,” said Shanthi Raj, a resident of Kilpauk.
Consumer
activists say that there should be an effective mechanism to ensure
that vendors and restaurants use ice that is manufactured hygienically.
Food
safety officials admit that they have received complaints about
ice-making units. “We will conduct inspections and take action against
those breaking the rules,” a health department official said.
DIRE AND ICE
Ice manufacturing units operate in Thiruvottiyur, Royapuram, Royapettah, Mylapore and Ambattur
They supply ice to outlets that sell fruit juice, hotels, hospitals, bars and fish markets
These units source water from borewells, Metrowater pipelines or from wells at the units
Most units in the city function in unhygienic conditions without licences
The units thrive with no system in place to keep check on them by the food safety department
