Bengaluru eateries score low on hygiene

Bengaluru: The Wednesday’s incident of food poisoning at a slum in  Sheshadripuram is not a one-off case in the city, as there are numerous food stalls, makeshift sweet shops, juice centres and hotels which hardly follow any food safety protocols.

The local snack shops also witness huge rush throughout the day, but they do not follow basic hygiene and sanitation when it comes to the cleaning utensils and dishes.

When DC spoke to some street vendors, they claimed that hygiene was being maintained. Lingaraju, a chaat shop owner in Koramangla, said, "We use Cauvery water for our food preparation and are very particular about cleanliness because the goodwill of customers is very important.”

Lingaraju said the food was prepared from home and the leftovers are always thrown away and not reused.

However, when Deccan Chronicle visited another street food vendor at Shanti Nagar, it was found that even basic food hygiene was not being followed. The food containers were not properly covered.

Sadly, there is little awareness among people regarding this issue and they often frequent shops that do not follow food hygiene or have proper cold storage facility.

Around 20 days back state Food Safety Authority had opened a Whatsapp food complaint group, which received 28 complaints against food handlers, hotels and small shops. "Of these we have already initiated action on 16 complaints. We take action within two days of people posting the complaint," said Dr B Harshvardhan, Deputy Commissioner, state food safety squad.

He also stressed on the need for public participation. "People need to call up and inform us of any activity. Without complaints we cannot take action considering the limited resources we work on."

Ill children to be discharged soon
The 15 children who were admitted at K.C. General Hospital, after they fell ill on consuming stale sweets sold at a local shop, are stable and likely to be discharged on Friday. "Luckily, because of timely intervention all the children are doing fine and they may be discharged on Friday. The four adults were discharged on Thursday. All these cases were related to food poisoning," said Dr H. Ravikumar, Medical Superintendent, K.C. General Hospital. He suggested that people should avoid consuming food from roadside shops. "People should maintain hand-hygiene and ensure that the food prepared is clean. They should avoid junk food sold at roadside stalls, including fruits and juices," he added.

4,020 calls on unhealthy food
The State Food safety Authority received 4,020 calls from across the State in the last 30 days regarding unhygienic and sanitation issues at restaurants and food stalls and shops.