Clean up or close down, FSSAI tells ‘thattukadas’

Wayside eateries or ‘thattukadas’, which offer low-cost food to the rich and poor alike, will have to spruce up their premises if they wish to stay on in business.

For, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is planning a drive to ensure that hygienic food is served to the people in such places in a clean atmosphere.

“It is mandatory for these food joints to ensure cleanliness on their premises. They should operate in a dust-free atmosphere. The carts they use should be glass-covered too. We are planning a drive to ensure that they are meeting these yardsticks,” O. Sankaran Unni, Assistant Commissioner, FSSAI, said.

Mr. Unni said the organisation would also regulate outlets offering shawarma, the popular Arabian meat roll. “We don’t have any data on the number of such units operating in the district. Applications were sought from shawarma outlet owners in a bid to keep a record on their numbers and regulate their operations. We got over 100 applications.”

He said all the shawarma units in the district would be examined by the authority and only those operating in a dust-free and clean atmosphere would be allowed to function. They would not be allowed to operate in open spaces, Mr. Unni added.

Shawarma outlets were in the eye of a storm after people complained of food poisoning and quite a few were hospitalised too.