Chandigarh: The University Institute of Hotel Management and Tourism (UIHMT) organised a training programme workshop for those working at the Student Centre on Wednesday as a large number of students eat food there and personal hygiene of those handling the food was important.
The chef of the UIHMT of Panjab University, Jaswinder, apprised the workers on how to handle the food safely, how to preserve it and also how they can maintain personal hygiene. The workshop was conducted specifically for the workers of student centre. More than 80 of them working at the Student Centre as well of various hostels participated in this workshop. After the workshop, hygiene kits were distributed among the workers, which included bathing soap, paste, toothbrush, hand towel, shampoo, oil, comb, etc. The workshop was followed by a nukkad natak performed by Parampara Arts to create awareness about safe disposal of waste.
As part of ‘Swachhata Hi Sewa’ campaign, the Centre for Human Rights and Duties, Panjab University, Chandigarh, in collaboration with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited organized a health and hygiene workshop for food handlers of Panjab University. Prof Emanual Nahar, Dean Student Welfare was the chief guest at the workshop. He assured that all efforts would be made by his office to ensure the welfare of workers as well as food safety on PU campus.
Dr Namita Gupta, chairperson, Centre for Human Rights and Duties stated that the job of the cooks and workers was very important as well as noble, so they must try their level best to serve hygienic food to the students.
In a recent visit to the mess of the hostels, a UIHMT team had made an observation in a report drafted by them that there was a dire need to revamp the kitchens, which were more than decade old. In the report it was stated that all kitchens have a permanent structure, which is not at all hygienic. In the report a suggestion was mooted that the authorities have to revamp the kitchen, which should be of steel and was removable so that after every fortnight the staff could clean the mess properly, which was not possible in the existing structure.
Another issue which the team observed in the mess of the hostels was that the storage of the raw material was as per the norms but the mess staff was untrained for food understanding, handling and cooking techniques. The department is going to propose a training programme for five days in which the mess staff will be trained about the food and hygiene in the mess. In fact, a check list will be prepared for all hostels, which the staff will have to follow while working in the kitchen and preparing food.
In a survey which was conducted in 2016 in all hostels of the campus as per the findings of the feedback forms, a large number of students had complained about the bad quality of food served in the mess of the campus.
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