CHENNAI: The city corporation during inspections in 155 restaurants found stale food in at least 61 of them. The eateries were penalized and Rs 52,000 was collected in a special drive held on Sunday.
An official involved in the crackdown told TOI that some major sanitary violations such as keeping stale food, presence of rodents in the kitchen, unclean kitchen and non-compliance of Covid-19 protocols were found.
“We set up 15 teams headed by the zonal health officer to inspect the eateries. Among variants checked were the quality of prepared food items, grocery, dairy products, vegetables and fruits used, storage facilities, cleanliness of cooking spaces, rodent menace and cleanliness of water tanks were all inspected,” said the official.
At eight restaurants, food in the deep freezer and stored cooked food were found to be stale. About 16kg of unhygienic food was seized from eight city restaurants. Under the Public Health Act, a penalty was also imposed and they have been warned of further action. Three restaurants had to pay a combined penalty of Rs 52,000.
“We have warned all the restaurants to ensure standards as per the Public Health Act to cook, store and serve healthy and hygienic food. During the pandemic, hygiene standards become all the more important but many restaurants were flouting the Covid-19 protocols as well.
We haven’t released names of such establishments but we have warned them of stricter action if the violations continue,” said an official.
