Rules permit limited inspection of eateries

Hyderabad: Over the past nine months, GHMC food inspectors have made surprise checks on 3,309 eateries out of the 20,000 registered in the city. They took 237 samples for testing of which 50 samples reported unsafe, misbranded and substandard.

A sample is taken only when the food is found to have bacteria, or is adulterated or stale. A health officer usually takes a sample for analysis when the food is stale, tastes sour, or the texture of the food is suspected. For example if dal has a froth, or rice or the meat smells foul or has changed colour.

If a sample is adulterated, the GHMC can cancel the trade licence and shut down the hotel, according to the rules. But no such event has been reported in the city. No inspections were made on street side eateries but only on restaurants that have a good footfall.

During an inspection, a sanitation check of the dining room, kitchen, and storage area is carried out. Inspectors check if a trade licence has been issued by the GHMC. With regard to the food served, they check the manner in which it is cooked, served and stored. They also check quality of the meat and how meat and vegetables are stored. Waste disposal, ventilation and condition of the toilets are also checked.

Samples are mostly picked up to check bacterial contamination. Common bacteria found in food are: Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcusaureus, Salmonella enterica, Bacillus cereus, Vibrio species, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium perfringens, and toxic-producing Escherichia coli.

The GHMC also responds to complaints made by customers. It does not, however, accept samples collected by complainants, though samples of stale packaged food are accepted.

A source from the civic corporation said, “Samples are collected in sterile bottles and sent to the food safety laboratory. Reports are released after one or two months, which is long enough for the hoteliers to suppress the matter. Labs analyse samples on first cum first serve basis and not on priority. Secondly, many food officers inspect hotels but don’t report the case. They “manage” with the hotel management in case of violations. Also, the rule states hotels have to be shut down if the sample report proves adulteration, but no hotel has been closed so far.”

GHMC additional commissioner, health and sanitation, N. Ravi Kiran, said the GHMC acts under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Rules of 2011, and provisions of the HMC Act, 1955.

“Joint inspections are carried out by food safety officers and assistant medical health inspectors. The corporation has introduced an app with 15 parameters on which hotels are inspected,” the source said.