Food carts go freewheeling

Hyderabad: Even as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) of the Central government has decided to regulate roadside eateries like the ‘thela bandis’, Hyderabad neither has proper staff nor the equipment to test samples of the products sold on bandis.

The FSSAI wants even mirchi and dosa bandis should obtain clearance from the health department but this is easier said than done since the government does not have any staff to either issue clearance certificate or enforce compliance of the mandatory.

It is hard to believe but there are only three food inspectors for Hyderabad’s population of one crore and there is only one state-level food laboratory where too few staff chase too many samples of food items that are sent to it not only from Telangana but also from AP.

As testing samples is taking a long time, the roadside eateries from where the samples are obtained should remain shut, robbing the livelihood of the vulnerable sections who set up such outlets. After analysis, if a sample is found to be harmless, it would not come as a great news for the eatery wallah since by then he would have lost valuable business.

A two-day meeting of the Health Ministers of the country is underway in New Delhi organised by FSSAI. During the first day, it was decided to regulate the roadside eateries, which serve mirchi bhajji, pungulu, dosas, idlis and other food items.

It has been decided to regulate the roadside eateries by making them to register with FSSAI. The objective is to ensure quality in all types of food businesses and also to promote a healthy society. The organisation proposed to make the application, supervision, complaints and other issues online. As per the proposal, there should be one health inspector for every 1,000 food units.

However, at the ground level, the situation is far from encouraging. There is no proper supervision by the authorities. The officials have no idea as to how many such eateries exist in Hyderabad. In Greater Hyderabad alone, where the population is about one crore, there are only three food inspectors and the number of inspectors needed is at least 30, which is one per a circle. The official said that on an average they get 25 to 30 complaints in a month of stale food being sold by restaurants.

“When we raid the food joints, we find the place unhygienic and we impose penalties, book cases and send samples for tests,” said the official. The official said that there is one recognised lab (State Food Laboratory) and it is burdened with samples from other states too. Once a 300-member institution now has only 30-odd staff testing hundreds of food samples every month.

For a report, which can be submitted within 14 days, it is taking over two months. The delay in bifurcation of the laboratory between Telangana and AP is also burdening the laboratory. Since the State Food Laboratory is in the Tenth Schedule and remains common for both the Telugu states.

According sources, during the last nine months the lab received over 4,400 samples from both the states. The FSSAI has proposed to give funds to the state government for setting up of food safety and standards authority in the state and wanted it to be autonomous. The organisation would help in having mobile testing units with necessary equipment to check adulterations. It also envisages to bring awareness among the businessmen on the importance of maintaining quality and hygienic food.