Single kitchen for veg, non-veg stirs up storm with food safety department

COIMBATORE: Sixty-five-year-old Red Fields-based Raghunathan S and his family walked out of a North Indian restaurant in Race Course because their Achaari Paneer smelled different. An innocent waiter also admitted that they sometimes use the same grill and kebab sticks for vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. 

A majority of the mid and small level restaurants in the district say they find it economically unviable to use different vessels for vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. This is despite clause 2 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 clearly stating that 'separate cutting boards, knives, dishes and preparation area should be provided for raw meats, poultry and marine products. ' 

Mainstream restaurants say it is impossible to follow the system unless you are a fast-food joint. "During peak hours when we serve 15 tables with a menu of 150 dishes, there is a lot of pressure in the kitchen," said Pradheesh Narayanaswamy, owner of the Mexican restaurant Mexitoes. "Having a double kitchen system is too big an investment," said the owner of a continental food restaurant in Race Course. "Though we keep the tawas, oils and cutting board separately, we never assure customers of using separate dishes, refrigerators and ovens" said Narayanasamy. 

"We try our best to have separate dishes for vegetarian and non-vegetarian food for every cuisine we serve, because we do not want the flavor or smell of any dish to get affected," said the Continental food restaurateur. "But many sauces or gravies that is served with both meat and vegetable can't be cooked twice," he said. 

Many Jains and Brahmins though feel that it is against their religious sentiments when the same vessels are used to cook vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. "We are afraid that some flavor or part of the meat will enter our food," said Coonoor-based resident Urmila Chordia. 

Religious sentiments aside, there is a risk of food contamination, say food scientists. "When raw meat and raw vegetables come into contact with each other before they are cooked, there is a risk of cross contamination because both types of food have a completely different set of bacteria," said food scientist Janani Sundararajan. 

However, few restaurants like Avinashi Road-based Yolo follow this rule to the dot. "We have separate burners and cutting boards for vegetarian and non-vegetarian food," said owner-S Harsha Vardhan. "We also color code our dishes, knives, tawas and kettles, green (vegetarian), yellow (egg) and red (non-vegetarian), so even at the end of the day the dishes are not mixed up," he said. 

The Food Safety Department said that they do reiterate this rule every time they conduct a camp for restaurants that have applied for and have been issued a license. "However, we can't monitor them every minute," said designated food safety officer R Kathiravan.