Don’t you just wish you could see what’s going on in the kitchens of even the poshest eateries in the city?
Ramanujam Krishna (name changed), a working professional, does not eat out often. He has a good reason. He still shudders at the memory of falling seriously ill after grabbing a quick bite at a famous eatery in Jayanagar 4 Block.
“I had roti and some subzi. Within minutes I had severe stomach cramps. It got so bad I left work early and went straight to the doctor, who diagnosed it as severe food poisoning. I wanted to complain about the hotel but didn’t know whom to approach,” he said.
The ubiquitous bug
Anirudh Mavanoor, who frequents a popular coffee chain, was shocked to see a cockroach traipsing over a sandwich kept at the display counter.
“When I pointed it out to the manager, he removed the cockroach but kept the sandwich back. It was only when I insisted that he throw it that he grudgingly did so,” he said.
These two cases are not surprising as the frequent raids by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Standing Committee for Public Health have caught several renowned hotels and eateries serving inferior quality, sometimes even stale food.
Heavily spiced
However, citizens say that random raids serve no purpose. Kumar G. (name changed), who used to work in the food industry, says mid-segment eateries routinely procure rotten vegetables and meat of poor quality at half the price, and marinate them in heavy spices to mask the taste. “Rice is also recycled. Rice made in the afternoon is washed thoroughly to separate the grains and is then turned into fried rice. Whatever is left over becomes curd rice,” he said.
If this has curdled your stomach, there’s more. Mr. Kumar said meat is salvaged from the gravy and washed, and becomes kebabs the following day. “The small eateries are not the offenders here. As they lack storage space, they plan properly and ensure there’s no leftover food. Big hotels, restaurants and eateries are the major offenders. To save money, they procure bad quality vegetables and meat, thereby risking the health of customers,” he said.
Rotten meat
S. Venkatesh Babu, chairperson of the BBMP Standing Committee for Public Health, told The Hindu that during a recent surprise inspection, he was shocked to see rotten meat stored in refrigerators, unwashed utensils being used in the kitchens and liberal quantities of food colouring and monosodium glutamate (ajinomoto). “In some places, the washing and cooking areas were adjacent. No hygiene was maintained and vermin were having a field day,” he said.
He has received nearly 60 complaints, both oral and written, from citizens about poor quality of food served in the many hotels and eateries across the city. “The committee will look into all these complaints by raiding the eateries. The drive is to ensure that they maintain cleanliness and don’t risk public health,” he said.
However, BBMP’s Opposition Leader M.K. Gunashekar said these raids serve no purpose. “One of the obligatory duties of the BBMP is to maintain public health. However, it lacks the requisite manpower and thus has not been able to monitor quality, ensure prescribed standards, and enforce the Food Safety and Standards Act. I feel that the BBMP is not taking this issue seriously enough,” he said.
Any follow-ups?
As per the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act 1976, the BBMP has the powers to inspect and close down places that serve stale or inferior quality food, besides cancelling their trade licence. “The Standing Committee is only levying penalties and issuing notices. What happens next? Have there been any follow up inspections?” Mr. Gunashekar asked.
Mr. Venkatesh Babu said that after the notices are issued, the establishment is shut down. “We will permit it to be opened only after the owner comes back with a report on the changes. Only after this is ascertained, the owner is allowed to start business again,” he said.
Inspectors’ shortage
BBMP Commissioner M.K. Shankarlinge Gowda conceded that there was shortage of food inspectors in the BBMP to enforce the Food Safety and Standards Act.
He said that owners of hotels and eateries must take the onus and ensure that their premises are kept clean and public health is not put at any risk. “The new Act is much more stringent than the previous Act (Prevention of Food Adulteration Act). We have urged the government to allow the BBMP to recruit more food inspectors,” he added.
Keywords: kitchens, eateries, food inspectors, Food Safety and Standards Act
Though there are committees to overlook these, it is the sole responsibility of the Hotels/Restaurants to follow ethics and do business honestly. When one person does the work correctly, there would not be any problems. But this has to be understood by the whole world.
I agree with people commenting about publishing the names of errant
restaurants. Otherwise, what's the point of highlighting the problems.
Thanks to this article, I'd now doubt every restaurant in the city. And
since I have a touring job and can't completely avoid eating out, I'd
probably end up eating with a disgusted feeling. Naming the restaurants
warn the public and compel those restaurants to take necessary steps,
it'd also be fair to those restaurants meeting the requisites
standards.
Hi,
A very apt article on food hygiene,on my recent visit to India to
Madras we bought some sweets from Krishna Sweets at their Lauder's
Gate branch and wanted to buy some "Basundhi" kept in a refrigerator
which was half dead!and the sweet was stale, on enquiry with the
manager there he promptly informed me that due to power cut it was not
cool was was still edible but in fact it was starting to smell which
he expected us to buy ! During our return journey at the airport there
is cafe just before the security clearance in the waiting
area,checking out some finger food at their food counter I spied some
cockroaches feasting on the icing of a cream cake and one on the
Sandwiches on display ! some western visitor's shuddered at the
thought of buying anything at this eatery where food hygiene is
showcased in such a blatant manner reflecting our apathy for
cleanliness or lack of it for the world to see !! -Arvind- Canada.
I agree with Murali and Mahesh comments that why not name the restaurants and
hotels discussed in this article? If newspapers are hesitant to name them how can
you expect public to come forward? I will throw in one restaurant to be avoided. I
travel once year back home to India and during my stay I visit the local restaurants to
satisfy my desire of the foods I had been missing abroad, during my last visit to
bangalore I had an horrible experience with Empire Restaurant in Koramangala, the
chicken curry was very stale and both me and my brother had diarrhea for the next 2
days. There has to be some certification and regular inspections to be carried out by
the health authorities. In singapore and malaysia there is certification of food
vendors and classify them as A, B,C based on level of hygiene maintained, this
system could be adopted if its not currently practiced, but then again in India it will
be easy to get certificate even with non compliances.
Dear Editor,
A great majority in our present world is in a frantic run for making profits no matter deceiving poeple,stealing etc.
So are hoteliers and the owners of eatery outlets.Only when some incidents happen, authorities are on their heels to initiate some namesake actions and most often innocents ,poor poeple have to bear the brunt leaving the corporate culprits still behind.Why can't the authorities make it a regular practice since it is a very important issuein addition I beleive we too need to take the onus of reporting if we find anything wrong about the food and service we find in eateries.
In Garebhavipalaya, Bangalore I have witnessed horrible practices. Once while serving food, the papaddam fell down, but the waiter instead of throwing it away, replaced it back into the meal dish!
I ran a small restaurant in Bangalore and we made every efforts to serve food that I or
My family would consume. We need to understand the bigger picture in this case. To
start with the BBMP officials are the biggest culprits as they are only interested in
collecting the bribe over and above the yearly license fee and are preoccupied with
this. What's worst is in the last 3 - 4 years they have started demanding bribes
amounting to almost 150 % of the actual fee prior to which it was about 25 - 50 % of
the fee along with the inflation we are facing. Secondly the Garbage clearing
contractors are a Mafia, They demand anywhere between Rs.500 - Rs.1500 a
month, if not payed they refuse to clear the garbage and hence some restaurants
start dumping the garbage in bins away from their areas and temporarily store it in
their premises leading to all sort of pests. If these basic issues cease small
restaurants can definitely channelize more funds towards hygiene and use of quality ingredients.
The approach so far is: Ensuring quality, ensuring cleanliness, ensuring good vegetables are bought, etc. But as can be seen, there are practical difficulties in implementing these. An alternative approach that could work and be scalable is: 1. Mandating the hotels to explicitly write down and display prominently the quality that they provide 2. Any customer should be allowed to see the condition of kitchen and ingredients live, if he/she desires. This way we give power to the people to change what is harmful and need not depend on limited resources of govt. to tackle a widespread problem.
Hi,
I find the comments quite right, would suggest to opt for open kitchen restaurents.
Or McDonalds,Subway,Haldirams; they are indeed professionals maitaining high quality, even complaining is very easy.
Just drop an email to head quarters.
Cheers
Anuj
Why are people afraid to name the restaurants? I had horrendous experiences in Adyar Ananda Bhavan in Jayanagar. Once we ordered pongal which was steeped in chlorine. Another time, I watched as cockroaches ran over prepared items in the showcase. No one cares when you complain because the customers are complacent. They keep coming back. If you want to hit them where it hurts, stop giving them your money.
Why don't you folks mention the names of the restaurants where you faced
these issues.. so that we can all avoid them and not fall ill.
I am from Chennai and am presently in USA
Understandably - true and good reflection on Indian restaurants.
Just think - if the infrastructure is right - I mean sanitation, electricity supply,
less corruption, control of food prices and basically awareness and character =
everythig else will fall into place. No amount of adding food inspectors is going to
solve the problem.
Look at the pathetic stage of toilet amenities all around for public, specially for
women.Look at the drainage and garbage disposal facilities all around.
who can stop these critters creeping in .
The marvel that is India is ...life goes on !
I ran a restaurant years ago....everything I mentioned was taken care of by the
infrastructure. That is the truth.
anil kumar
Shortage of food safety inspectors is no excuse. Howsoever limited in number, each food inspector should be given a specified target to ensure that inspection is carried out on a daily basis; instead they chose to remain silent & wake-up only when such articles surface. Last Sunday, my colleague & I had lunch at a Chinese restaurant located near the signal junction at Kamanahalli, Bangalore. Both suffered stomach pain due to contamination of food; we are still under medication..!! This is not a wayside restaurant..!!
Enforcement: Even if the authorities have the manpower, the corrupt
system does not guarantee anything. The Food Inspector Job will become
the sought after job with the potential of high "secondary income".
Attitude has to change. I have ALWAYS eaten on the roadside, on small
shops and avoid the fancy, hip, big-name (n-star) establishments. The
'kayendhi bhavan's are inexpensive, food is prepared by people with
minimal profit in their mind. Especially if you are a regular (as a
bachelor I depended upon them). And they rely on repeat customers.
The article says we are short of food inspectors but are the ones we have doing their duty well or just giving the license in exchange of pockets filled for themselves. If the inspectors who are there handle their responsibilities well there will be improvements in cleanliness and hygiene at eateries.
This is expected and more to come - thanks to the heighest level of corruption in all places of India and its society. Atleast now people can say they saw a rat while eating - time will come when they will be served rats - so high time to stand up as Patriotic Citizens and fight to Root out this Evil Corruption that is ruining our lives - start it in your lives and we can change the face of INDIA back to where it really supposed to be.
That is about India but also about many other places in the world. What about making it mandatory to allow customers to visit the kitchen before eating if they ask, or in posh places to have kitchen behind glass partitions...
Wow... people will literally eat with rats but the dimwits will get all up in arms when a bacteria is named after New Delhi!?
We used to be an advanced race. Used to be.
Bigger the restaurant, more callous their attitude. They behave as though they are doing their customer some favour.
Mid-sized restaurants are the best. Check out their attitude which should say if they keep things clean.
I'm pretty sure that all of us who eat out have cellphones(with camera if not smartphones). Why not take videos and photos of such events and upload them to countless review sites that are there these days ? Just keeping mouth shut and not publicizing about your experience won't stop the monkey business. If there are folks who use things like google places to find places to eat, I'm sure they'll see reviews as well. And that's where you'll have voice to shut such businesses down.
All the things from this article are true. My Children like Chinese
food and so we visited a Chinese restaurant in Chennai located on
Radhakrishnan Salai across from a five star hotel. Lighting is so dim,
but we could see rodents zooming past along the edges of the wall and
my kids spotted them right away. The rodents blend very well with the
dark hardwood floors of the restaurant. Another instance of
Kancheepuram Idli in our chennai's famous vegetarian restaurant chain
located in Jafferkhapet/Ashok Nagar, the dried Coriander had a piece
of the "Kambi Mathapu", I made a police complaint of the same, but the
safari suits came to the police station gave the inspector/SI some
money and all were let loose...yes typical India....Unless some of
these offenders are given a "Sakth" Punishment like Anna says, nothing
is going to change...
You would have to be an absurd optimist to think if recruiting more health inspectors or setting a new standard body will help. In the end, all these officers will end up with under the table dealings. All these articles and comments are not going to change anything.
Why are not mentioning the names of the restaurants? what do you mean by "A popular coffee chain"? It is easy to criticize in generic language. By the same token, there are lot of hotels in Bangalore who go to great lengths to ensure cleanliness.
A newspaper of your stature can afford to be specific with the names, and also mention places where cleanliness is maintained. Because, there are lot of people who depend on hotel food. Even I was surviving on hotel food till only two years ago.
In America the shops throw away the items voluntarily When they find that the product is contaminated. In USA the restaurant will be sued by the customer. FDA checks periodically and the violations are dealt with punitive fines. I have never heard of any recall of defective items in India. In India even bottled water contains germs. Law should not only be strict but it should be enforced without fear,bias and prejudice. Even if the hotel is a five star, the restaurant should be shut down.The media should play a lead role in exposing the unhygienic restaurants and unhealthy practices of the restaurants.People should become more health conscious in India. When people begin to boycott the restaurant which is found unhealthy, they will go out of business automatically. The hotels are playing with the lives of eaters and governments should view this very very seriously. There should be regular surprise inspections. This is a real bad news for Indian tourism.
Hi,
One of my cousin had good in one of the popular restaurants in Chennai. He got admitted in the Hospital for food poisoning and had to stay for more than a month with Rs. 3-4 lakhs expense. He is still suffering from memory loss as the Virus affected his brain. Authorities...Please do something to stop the roadside vendors from affecting more citizens
Have an observation. The Health Authorities in Riyadh, KSA have implemented a decision that all eateries should have glass window showing the cooking zone. This has greatly improved the degree of hygine. Why not try it here!
That single photo of rats nibbling next to a pan will haunt me for the rest of my life! To think in how many so-called "high-class" hotels these uninvited visitors have their fill everyday makes me nauseous. To stay healthy, stay at home!
You can appoint a million or a zillion inspectors, it would make no
difference! May be Anna Hazare method is the best in India! Just stop
eating, even in the house,as all that we buy are so polluted, sprayed
with chemicals, adulterated, whatever! A country that has lost its
moorings, that is totally devoid of values, sinking and on the verge
of disintegration
We Indians have the strongest immune systems in the World! The new food
inspectors means what? to whom? Wish the whole system gets cleaned up
from the core of the leaders. Until then...keeping writing on a slow
day.
I am in saudi arabia on a business visit and am surprised to note that
the hotels here are kept 100% clean owing to the very strict laws and
its implementation. Recently, there is a new law which makes it
mandatory for the kitchen area to be visible to the eaters and most
hotels are undergoing renovation to comply with it. In India, the shoddy
implementation of laws and corruption at all levels is responsible for
this mess. And also the affinity of people to cut corners everywhere and
bend rules to make a quick buck, no matter the consequences.
Dear Editor,
Thank you for this article. Being a single professional and relying on food on restaurants every day, I had several days of severe food posioning in Bangalore. It was unfortunately a newly opened "sandarshini" in the DMR layout, a little distance inside the main road. I did not know whom to complain leading a busy life and I changed restaurant but very frequently hit by food poisoning. Please authorities do something... cleaniliness is godliness and proper bug free kitchen and hands washing culture by workers should be made compulsory. Maybe a new standard body should come up. Cheers Anand
Each time we visit the doc for upset stomach or food poisoning reasons, we have remind ourselves that we will avoid the next food outing. Since going dutch and eating out has become a fashion, the food suppliers (no matter what star or no star) are having a field day and we will continue to be the poor victims.
In chennai, the vegetable vendors themselves admit that all old and
rotten vegetables are bought by the hotels. The daily special items of
hotels are usually leftovers of the previous day.
Hi all,
When you make a compliant like these on any hotel/restaurant on non-hygienic conditions why hesitate to mention the name of the hotel. They deserve punishment.. mention their name online and bring their reputation down.. let them go out of the business..
real simple. stop eating out as much as possible.
I have never seen a 100% clean, hygenic, safe restaurant, no matter what.
flies, roaches, rats, stray dogs are always in the vicinity if not already inside. floors are unclean, tabkes are unclean. the only way for this to improve is if citizens diligently stop eating out unless they are 100% sure. demand to see the kitchens and storage areas. trust me, you will run out in horror.
When I was having lunch with my girl friend in one of the busiest and posh hotels in Chennai, there was this cockroach in Briyani. When I complained they silently took us out of the A.C room. Other customers were oblivious. I was asked to pay for the food and I didn't want to argue with anyone. Just walked out paying the bill and never went to that hotel again.
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