Hygiene check: 5 eateries raided

INDORE: In order to keep a check on adulteration and hygiene, the district food and drug department carried out raids at five food outlets that college students frequently visit. In the second phase of Operation Vishuddha, a food safety drive, the district administration chose dhabas, small pocket-friendly restaurants and tiffin centres as their focal points of inspection.

"Since the new academic session recently began in colleges, we want to ensure that students, especially the ones from outstation, get healthy food while they are away from home," said Manish Swami, district food official. The five food centres where raids were carried out are located on Bhawarkuan and Khandwa Road areas where several educational institutes, including Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalya (DAVV), are located.

"We collected samples of oil from Shubh Tiffin Center, Kashish Dhaba and Gayatri Kirana to check the quality of oil being used to cook the food. We also collected cold drink samples from New Kanchan Restaurant and Sawariyan Restaurant to check if the owners of these places weren't using duplicates of popular soft drink brands," said Kirti Rawat, District Food Officer.

She added that the samples will be sent to the laboratory and suitable action will be taken against the owners once test results are out in a fortnight. The district food and drug department also found that these restaurants and food centres were not adhering to guidelines issued by them regarding maintenance and hygiene.

"We have issued notices to them and will keep a tab on whether they comply with all the guidelines in the future or not," said Rawat.

Officials also raided other small food outlets and spelt out guidelines issued by the department to the owners, cooks, waiters and cleaning staff so that they could maintain hygiene at the eateries they were working at within their respective spheres of work. "A number of waiters did not know that they had to submit a medical health certificate to the district administration for the dhaba to run smoothly," said Rawat.