Eating out still not very safe

This despite several stringent measures by authorities

Standards of hygiene continue to be flouted in the district by hotels and wayside eateries despite the stringent measures taken by the Health Department and the Food Safety authorities.

A recent search conducted by the Health Department in various food supply outlets has exposed the use of contaminated water for cooking purposes and unclean environment where most part of the cooking activities take place.

The practice in the sector has come to light following a State-level directive under the ‘Safe Kerala’ project to prevent the spread of communicable diseases during the monsoon season. Within days of the formal launch of the checking, 36 shops have been served closure notice.Regional squads

The inspection is currently under-way in the district under the headship of regional squads.

Officials of the Health Department say that they have served warning notices to over 90 hotels to immediately upgrade the facilities and improve hygiene. Closure notices will be issued to these firms if the directives are not properly implemented.

In addition to this, checking is in progress in all the soft-drink supply units, juice parlours, catering units and ice plants.

According to official sources, 40 cool bars have already been issued notices to improve the facilities.

Also, two of the ice factories have been found flouting the safety norms in production.

Interestingly, the catering units have also been found violating many of the safety conditions. Officials say 23 catering units have been served notices so far.

Health Department officials say the checking drive will be conducted simultaneously in all parts of the district. “We have formed 64 special squads for the purpose and they will coordinate the searches under Additional District Medical Officer A. Sabu and Reproductive and Child Health Officer Asha Devi,” they add.

As a counter to the official measures, some of the soft-drink traders have come up against the action of the department. “People in this trade are small-scale merchants and they will not be able to provide five-star facilities to the clients in a village setting,” they claim.