The health wing of the Thrikkakara municipality on Tuesday served notices on four eateries at IMG Junction near the District Collectorate after stale food and banned plastic were seized from two units and all four were found maintaining unhygienic environment.
Stale food was seized from Royal Bakery and Restaurant and banned plastic from Hotel Palaharam. Hotel Friends and Malabar Plaza were the other two. “All four hotels have been told to make amends and report within a couple of days. We have submitted a report on the seizure of stale food to the municipal secretary who will decide the course of action to be taken against the eatery concerned,” said health wing sources.
A team of junior health inspectors Sabeena S., Jenni Jose, and Tarish Ibrahim conducted the inspection.
Several eateries in the municipality are under the scanner following instances of alleged food poisoning being reported with disturbing frequency.
The latest incident was reported on May 21 when the municipal health wing closed down an eatery at Edachira that was engaged in takeaway service after three children of a family complained of discomfort and received treatment at a hospital after reportedly consuming food from the outlet. None of the employees in the shop were found to possess health cards.
The civic body is in the process of rolling out a mobile app, which among other things will facilitate reviewing of and lodging complaints against hotels and restaurants. While the reviews will be open to the public, specific complaints will be open only to the designated admin panel. Similarly, action taken by the panel will be accessible to the complainants concerned alone.
The municipality plans to conduct a campaign to elicit suggestions from the public and IT experts on the features to be added in the app. The app will be rolled out after incorporating suggestions from them.
