The foodies of the city seemed to be in spin after the food safety department, Kamrup (Metro), on 30th April, served a closure and improvement notice two restaurants in the city after they were found serving food in unhygienic conditions.
Nehars, located at Christian Basti and Emperor China at RG Baruah Road, have been shut down for ten days. The closure and improvement notice was issued by the officials of the department under Section 32 of the Food Safety & Standard Act 2006.
An inspector with the food safety department said that the raid was carried out after a complaint was received by the department regarding both the restaurants maintaining low hygiene standards.
The official who didn’t wish to be named said that the kitchens of these restaurants were found dirty and were below food safety standards. There was no sufficient space for storage and poor ventilation systems. During the inspection, the officials also found the kitchens to be cramped with very less space for movement.
"While inspecting, we saw the floors and walls to be unclean, insects were roaming in the kitchen. Neither there was any net fitted on the windows nor it had a proper drainage system as per the Food Safety Act," said the official.
Further, he stated that the staff of these restaurants was not found to be using proper gear like hand gloves, aprons and headwear. The department officials also found a huge pile of spices which had already crossed its expiration date. "We have served them a notice to close the restaurant and fix everything within 10 days, and if found that the situation is still the same then further course of action will be taken.”
It’s not the first time that the food safety department has carried out such raids in city hotels and restaurants. In July last year the food safety department along with Minister of State for Health, Pijush Hazarika, carried out surprise raids at various hotels and restaurants at Paltan Bazaar where a few hotels namely Hotel Raja, Hotel Green View and Hotel Kamakhya were shut down for three days after they were found operating in unhygienic conditions.
Raids were constantly carried out by the district administration in city since last year. Heavy fines amounting to even Rs 8 lakhs were imposed on traders of the Fancy Bazar area of the city for selling low quality food products. Atleast 82 cases were registered against these business establishments.
During the raid fines were imposed against oil traders who were found selling low quality product to the customers. Fines ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.25 lakhs were slapped on them.
Even fruit vendors were fined for ripening bananas and mangoes using carbides and other chemicals. A total of 12.5 quintals of mangoes were seized during the raid.
Apart from all these, many famous and reputed restaurants also came under the scanner because of serving rotten meat and stale food to its customers. The food department collected samples from their kitchens after receiving complaints.
City foodies express concern
Guwahati is a city that likes to eat and eat good food. Many food fanatics have expressed concern over the growing cases of adulteration and unhygienic conditions of the restaurants in the city.
Nabanita Sarma is foodie and a frequent visitor to various food joints and restaurants in the city.
Speaking to G plus Nabanita said that the growing number of cases of restaurants serving food under unhygienic conditions has created a sense of fear among the food lovers and for the people who visit these places to eat. "Most of the time I eat outside at various restaurants because of my work. I am now scared to eat outside because of the news that we are receiving. Everything is getting adulterated - be it fruits, vegetables and other food items. The safety of the consumers is being compromised. Restaurants operating in unhygienic conditions are posing greater health risk for the people who visit those restaurants to eat."
She further said that the government should make its food licensing norms more strict and should frequently check the food items being served at the restaurants.
Anoorag Deka who is also a foodie and frequent restaurant hopper also expressed a similar concern. Deka said that because of the increase in the number food joints and restaurants, the quality of food is being compromised. “Because of the rapid growth of the city and its population, a lot of food joints and restaurants have mushroomed in the area to cater to the growing needs of the people. And the restaurants are starting to compromise on the standard and quality of food that they serve. Quantity has become the key rather than the quality,” said Anoorag.
The growing concern about the quality issue among the general masses will hamper the food industry as many people are apprehensive of eating outside at such restaurants because of quality and hygiene issue.
Moreover, the reputation of such places will not be the same even after the corrections are made.
Government’s credibility questioned as raids yield no improvement in food standards
The health ministry last year constituted a team comprising officials from the health & family welfare department, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the State Public Health Laboratory (SPHL) to conduct surprise raids on various hotels, milk vans, sweet shops and factories. However, the raids were not conducted regularly because of shortage of manpower, said an officer of the FSSAI under the condition of anonymity.
The officer said, “The office does not have adequate manpower. The team constituted by the minister of state for health and family welfare has inducted most of our food inspectors. Frequent raids are conducted throughout the city to collect samples and follow up on those cases only.”
“The regular checking has taken a back seat. Because of such raids, several restaurants are maintaining the hygiene of the food that they serve to the customer, but again there are many who are not maintaining the standards of the food according to the food safety act. Strict action will be taken against the violators in the future surprise checking that will be done by the team,” said the officer.
