Tightening regulations in the wake of the latest incidents of food poisoning, local administrators have started examining the licences of wayside eateries and those engaged in the delivery of food items in the district. Operation of stationery traders who deal with the sale of food without obtaining licence will be stopped as part of the measures in place to check illegal food-based ventures.
Many local administrators have already held meetings with health squads to step up vigil in their areas. There are also daily review meetings now to discuss the details of actions taken. Venues of mass events will also be brought under surveillance as part of the heightened safety measures.
Soon after the intensified inspections across the State, many such small-scale units that reportedly functioned without licence have stopped operations.
Health Inspectors working within the limits of local bodies say labourers in hotels and restaurants will have to obtain health cards to function lawfully. Also, all entrepreneurs in the sector will have to produce details of water quality tests. According to them, many entrepreneurs who failed to produce such basic documents are now facing legal actions under the Kerala Public Health Ordinance.
There have been demands on the part of hotel and restaurant owners to control the mushrooming number of wayside food ventures and parcel business carried out without proper licence. One of the main allegations they raised was the poor number of inspections in such units and “unsatisfactory” actions. The hoteliers had also accused the Food Safety squad of adopting a “compassionate approach” towards such traders while treating their licensed counterparts as “enemies”.
