FSDA to check food being served at kanwariya camps

Meerut: Officials of the Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FSDA) are keeping a close watch on the food being served to kanwariyas at the camps set up on the Kanwar Yatra route to prevent any form of adulteration. Food being sold by dhabas and hotels on the route are also under the scanner.

In addition, the FSDA team has been tasked with ensuring that meat shops on the yatra route remain closed till the pilgrimage ends.

“Lakhs of kanwariyas on their way to Haridwar on foot pass through the city during the Kanwar Yatra. Various volunteers, city-based NGOs and religious groups play host by providing food and set up camps for the Shiva devotees to stay. To ensure that unadulterated and healthy food is served to the kanwariyas, we have formed teams of FSDA officials who will conduct surprise checks at these camps,” said Archana Dheeran, Meerut designated officer, FSDA.

An 11-point instruction notice has been circulated by the FSDA and put up at all the camps to make sure that the orders are followed strictly. The instructions include covering food properly, preventing use of food colours and serving fresh food.

“Instructions have also been given that no person with communicable disease prepares the food so as to prevent diseases from spreading among the kanwariyas. Raw vegetables have to be used only after they are cleaned in chlorinated water. The people serving food should wear clean clothes and head gears,” said Dheeran.

Orders have also been given to place dustbins and make available soap and water at the camps. The FSDA team will conduct checks and, if any suspected item is found, it will be seized, destroyed and action taken against those flouting norms. “We have asked the hotels and dhabas on the Kanwar Yatra route to display their rates, so that kanwariyas are not fleeced. Checking is also being done to see that meat shops on the yatra route are shut, and if at all any shop is found open, police help will be sought to shut it,” said Dheeran.

FSDA Norms

Ban on use of edible food colour

Dhabas and hotels told to display food rate list

No person with a communicable disease should cook food in camps

Food must be kept covered at all times