Eating out? Think twice

KOCHI: If not contained, the eateries in the district are likely to spread epidemic soon. The health authorities on Wednesday seized stale food from more than 200 hotels in various parts of the district. The raids conducted by 19 squads under the District Health Officer found that the food served in most of the hotels, including star hotels, is more than three days old.The team also found that the food items are being cooked and served in an unhygienic manner. “We started raids in the rural areas of the district at 5 am. What we found in these hotels was indeed shocking. Even in star hotels in the district more than three-day-old food items were being supplied to customers,” District Health Officer, Rural, P N Sreenivasan said. Of the 235 hotels from where the rotten food items were seized, around 200 did not have the licence. The hotels and eateries should get licence from the local bodies concerned before they start functioning. “Nobody knows about the health condition of the hotel workers. If they have contracted typhoid and diarrhoea, chances are high for them to spread the disease to the customers,” Sreenivasan said. The hotel workers should undergo health check-ups every six months and get a certificate from the health authorities, he said. Cooked food items including marinated meat dishes are being stored in freezers for up to a week. “After getting an order they just pick the readymade food stored in freezer and warm it. This can cause diarrhoea,” Sreenivasan said. The possibilities for spreading typhoid and hepatitis are also high. The health authorities in the district said that action would be taken against the hotel owners under the Public Health Act, 1955. “We have given warning notices to the owners of these hotels asking them to take corrective measures within seven days. If they are ignoring the rules even after seven days, we will order them to close down the shops,” he said. “We are planing to conduct regular raids in the hotels and eateries once a week,” Sreenivasan said.Each of the 10-member squads comprise health supervisors, health inspectors and junior health inspectors. They are in 17 centres in the district, including Kothamangalam, Piravom, Muvattupuzha, Aluva, Angamaly, Nedumbassery and Paravur.Stale food confiscated from PiravomA huge quantity of stale food was confiscated from Piravom, too. In a lightning raid, the Health Department on Wednesday confiscated stale food from 10 hotels in Piravom town. The seized items include 2 kg of beef, 3 kg chicken, fish curry, 40 chapatis, 20 kg reused oil, dosai, vada, Bengal gram and pickle, said Health Inspector C R Sureshkumar. The stale food items were found in 10 hotels out of 14 where the team led by junior health inspectors Prince Sebastian and N G Gopakumar carried out the raid from 5.30 am to 9 am. The Health Department issued notice to the hotels from where stale food was seized. The hotels have been warned that if they don’t follow the rules their licence will be cancelled.