Caterpillar found in food served at university canteen

Vadodara: After pictures of a caterpillar being found in vegetable curry at the mess of the Sarojini Devi Hall of the girls’ hostel campus of the MS University (MSU) went viral, teams of food safety officers of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) cracked down on the canteens and messes in the hostel campus. 

The teams destroyed a whopping 190kg material found unfit for consumption and the conditions in all the messes were found unhygienic.

The photograph that had gone viral on Tuesday following which the VMC commissioner instructed the food safety officers of VMC to swing into action. The food safety department formed two teams that checked messes in both the boys and girls hostel campuses of the MSU. 

In all, 10 messes were checked by the officers. The conditions in all 10 were found to be unhygienic and notices were issued to them under the Food Safety and Standards Act.

A major row was raked up after a student staying in the Sarojini Devi Hall posted pictures of the vegetable curry with caterpillar on Facebook and it was also circulated widely on the WhatsApp. Following this, VMC officials checked six messes in the boys hostel campus and four in the girls hostel campus.

The food items that were found unfit for consumption included vegetables and vegetable preparations, spices, edible oil, snacks, sweets, food colours and sauce. Besides destroying 190kg such material, the teams also collected nine samples of food and ingredients that were sent to the laboratory for testing.

The officials also met wardens of the hostels and other staffers and instructed them to maintain hygienic conditions. It was only after this that the MSU officials swung into action and shut down the Sarojini Devi Hall mess. The contractor of the mess was also blacklisted.

MSU vice chancellor Professor Parimal Vyas said that the mess was sealed. “Some vegetables were not of good quality. We will be imparting training to those managing and working at the messes. VMC officials will also be involved in the process,” he said.