The sun is about to set over the Kozhikode beach on a weekend day, and there is a steady stream of visitors strolling on the sandy shores.
“Shall we try a glass of ice urathiyathu ?” a young woman asks her husband.
“Oh no, I don’t want to fall sick,” pat came the reply as she was led swiftly away from the mobile cool drink stall.
The crowd around the street vendor, however, kept growing. Standing next to the stall, K. Rajesh, who works for a private firm in the city, is dipping a spoon in the glass containing ice urathiyathu, a drink made of crushed ice, vegetables and fruits, topped with peanuts. “Here you get both sweet and spicy varieties,” he says recommending the drink.
“But don’t you care about the water quality?” “Well, not very sure, but it tastes good,” he says.
Local street foods such as ice urathiyathu are hot favourites with young people here despite the possible health risks from the use of contaminated water or ice blocks. People also blink at the health risks of eating slices of salted cut fruits and vegetables available at wayside stalls.
T.K. Prakasan, health inspector (project in-charge) of the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation, points out that many street vendors are found using ice blocks bought from cold storages that preserve fish for long. The ice may contain formaldehyde which will cause serious health issues if it enters human body. The water being used to make fruit juices is not usually filtered either.
Many hotels and restaurants in the city too are found using contaminated water. A number of jaundice cases were reported from among those who used water from the canteen of a well-known hospital in the city recently. The corporation authorities got the canteen closed after it was found that unhygienic water was being used there. The District Medical Officer has already issued alert against jaundice. Another possible threat is cholera.
The corporation is now insisting that hotels and restaurants check on the quality of water they use on their own and produce certificates along with applications for fresh licences.
People have been advised against eating cut fruits or vegetables kept in unhygienic surroundings.
K.V. Baburaj, chairman of the Standing Committee on Health, said the Health section of the corporation would continue raids on restaurants and food joints in the coming days to ward off the possible threat of disease outbreaks during monsoon.
In many places in the city, the Kerala Water Authority’s drinking water pipes are laid next to drainages.
There is a possibility of drinking water getting mixed with sewage. “Recently, coliform bacteria was found in water samples collected from a hotel at Palayam where drainage and drinking water pipe run next to each other. All such hotels have been asked to install water filters,” Mr. Prakasan said. Restaurants using open well water should ensure that water quality is checked every six months at the Centre for Water Resource Development and Management, KWA lab, or the Regional Public Health Laboratory. If water is sourced through tankers, the hotel or restaurant owner should produce a certificate proving its quality.
The Health authorities are also keeping a watch on ‘fuljar soda’, a carbonated drink, now a sensation among youngsters.
A few days ago, they raided a food joint on the beach where the drink was found being prepared in unhygienic conditions. “We have informed the Food Safety Department that the soda and ice being used at the joint were unhygienic,” Mr. Prakasan added.
The food stuff you may find on the street may look exotic, but ensure that it is healthy too.
