Food for thought

Unclean premises

Bengaluru has been called a foodie’s paradise, and rightfully so. With the existing charm of old eateries and new hole-in-the-wall joints opening up every other day, the choices are aplenty. 

But how many of these restaurants maintain the required safety standards? While it is important for the tastebuds to be tingled, do customers give hygiene enough importance? 

Old is not always gold. The popular and age-old sweet shop on Commercial Street, which is famous for its ‘jamuns’, stands true to this statement. “One is welcomed by a stench arising from the leaking sewage system on entering the store,” says Hari Naidu, a PRO at ‘Rahul Furniture’. 

While it has stood the test of time and serves the best sweets since 1948, this taste comes with a price — a threat to one’s health. It has an unappetisingly sticky floor and a peek into their kitchen details the real story behind the extra added taste. 

“Their kitchen is home to a number of pests. The owners are unapproachable and they do not pay heed to complaints,” adds Hari. 

Workers in unclean clothes, walls coloured with chewed up ‘paan’, garbage lying openly near the kitchen and sweet batter being mixed on the dirty floor — this is  the story behind their exotic tasting ‘jamuns’!

But this is not the end of it — there are a number of eateries that are in the same state, among which is a cafe on St Marks Road and a coffee house on Church Street. 

“I used to visit the coffee house quite often, but I don’t want to go there anymore. The restrooms are always dirty and once I was served stale ‘dosa’ for my evening snack. I complained about it but it fell on deaf ears,” says Namratha, a professional. 

However, Sadat, a fashion photographer and a frequent customer at the eatery on  St Mark’s Road, says, “It has been there for so many years now and people do not judge this place as good or bad. It was shut down two to three years back for being unclean, but I have no complaints about it. I am a regular here and I have not had any food poisoning. I like to go here, no matter what anyone says, as it has a homely feel to it.” Gagan Rao, a CA student, adds, “I consider myself a big foodie and I rate restaurants based on three factors — taste, cleanliness and pricing. However, taste plays a major role and I do not mind visiting eateries that are known for their flavours but rate average for cleanliness. I do, however, avoid going to restaurants that are veryunhygienic.”

So, does sanitation mean just avoiding food poisoning? Yatish Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Health, BBMP, says, “From May 2013, the sanitation factors of restaurants fall under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Yet, I have issued umpteen number of circulars that make sure the eateries give first preference to sanitation. I have also conducted a lot of raids and even shut many restaurants for a day, after imposing heavy fines. We have regular checks that happen, but there is a shortage of health inspectors.” 

At present, there are 62 senior health inspectors and 137 junior inspectors. But, he says that there is a need for at least 198 senior and junior health inspectors to conduct raids on regular intervals. 

HS Shivakumar, Deputy Director of Public Health, FSSAI, adds, “We do conduct regular checks, but there are chances that we might have missed out on a few eateries.”