Hyderabad: Due to a shortage of Food Inspection staff in six zones of GHMC, the food eatables served at hotels and restaurants are not being checked.
Merely three food inspectors are overseeing the food inspection of the eatables served at hotels and restaurants in six zones of the GHMC. Due to the shortage in food inspection staff it is not possible to check food adulteration which is posing a big risk to the health of the public.
After the unlock, all the restaurants and eateries are opened and serving foods to the public. But due to the shortage of manpower less attention is being paid on hygiene and cleanliness and the prevention of food adulteration is being overlooked.
Telangana Public Service Commission had announced appointment of only 20 food inspectors this year who are currently under training which will be over after 40 days. They would not be given postings unless they complete their training. There is a need for six food inspectors for six zones, but currently there are only three. Two of them reached their retirement age but they were given extension in their service.
According to the GHMC data, there are 10,000 small hotels and curry points, 3000 ordinary and star hotels. The number of other eateries is about 2000. The food inspectors do not get more than 230 food samples in a year. On so many occasions, adulteration was detected but the defaulters were let off after imposing penalties. There was a plan to launch an application to detect different kind of food adulteration and malpractices but it was not successful.
There are reports of food adulteration even in the eatables of well branded names like ‘Swiggy’ and ‘Zomato’. The Forum for Good Governance Secretary M Padmanabha Reddy urged the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) to take measures to stop food adulteration. He had appealed to KTR to establish a special cell to receive food adulteration complaints. According to the food Sample Act, GHMC must have the details of all the eateries in its jurisdiction. “Periodic food inspection must be conducted. There must be enough number of labs to check the food samples to detect the adulteration and the food adulterators must get severest of the punishment. There must not be any chance of adulteration at any stage from production, to packing and transportation,” Reddy said.
To implement the food adulteration act, GHMC requires enforcement officials and due to the shortage in food inspection staff this law is not being implemented.