Are you worried whether the food you order in the neighbourhood eatery is cooked hygienically by people who do not have any health problems? Your worry may not be unfounded as the State Health Department has expressed its inability to enforce the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
Health Minister U.T. Khader told presspersons on Saturday that the department was not equipped to enforce the Act as it did not have the required staff and machinery. He said the department wanted to give away the responsibility of enforcing the Act to the Food and Civil Supplies Department.
“As this is a Central Act, we will write to the Union government requesting that the Health Department in Karnataka be relieved of this responsibility,” he said.
The Minister had earlier made it mandatory for cooks and other kitchen staff in hotels to undergo a medical check-up and obtain a health card. He had mooted the idea of compulsory medical examination for kitchen staff to help curb the spread of communicable diseases from hotels.
On Saturday, he wanted the Centre to frame separate cadre and recruitment rules for enforcement of the Act.
State requires 300 food safety inspectors, but it has only 177
There are only five government-run food-testing laboratories
