Paying for germs

Our world of today is just too busy or too tired to cook. After a 10-hour shift, and an hour in traffic, the last thing on your mind is peeling potatoes.

Which is why our world of today is increasingly relying on restaurants, and even small eateries, for our regular meals. But here’s the thing, your favourite restaurant, serving up that delicious biryani, is having trouble keeping its kitchen clean. In fact, according to city officials, some of these outlets even have fungus growing on walls.

In Secunderabad, the Cantonment Board’s sanitation department has ordered shut at least 25 restaurants and other small food outlets in the past few days.

Sanitary Superintendent M. Devender, of the SCB, takes us through the grimy details. “A restaurant is divided into five categories — dining, kitchen, store rooms, toilets/wash areas and employees. Most of the dining and kitchen areas have poor ventilation with no exhaust fans. The walls, floors and ceilings are filthy and have fungus growing on them. The storage rooms, filled with rice and vegetables, have rats living in them. There are many restaurants which have connected the dishwashing area with toilets — that’s strictly against the rules. The dirty water is not drained properly either. Another important thing is the personal hygiene of the staff. They have to pass a medical inspection and only then can they be employed. Many restaurant staffers here do not meet these medical conditions.”

The SCB’s hygiene drive began in October and fines can reach '1 lakh. “We are not going to stop until all the restaurants in our division pass the hygiene tests. After several closed shutters, other restaurants have now started rectifying the problems at their end,” adds Devender.

What can the customers do?
If a customer receives unhygienic food, they can keep the sample of it with them and file a complaint on the website scb.gov.in. It will be inspected at a lab and the board will take strict action. The police have already ordered restaurants to install cameras in the kitchens.

Hold on to your lunch!

• 1 A popular fast food joint in Himayatnagar served a customer a bottle of Coca-Cola with a  frozen fly in it. When the hotel’s manager was asked about it, he asked the customer to keep quiet about the find. He even offered the customer free food, worth Rs 1,000.
• 2 Another outlet in Himayatnagar has a dustbin and toilet next to two tables.
• 3 A bakery near Domalguda, has been running for nearly 30 years with an open kitchen. It opens into a road and takes in all the dust and dirt from the traffic.
• 4 Insects preserved in sweet boxes are a common sight.  
• 5 During a wedding at a hotel near Tank Bund, a guest found an insect in one of the dishes. “I couldn’t say anything because I was a guest,” he said.