|
|
|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
Restaurant customers in Gujarat can now watch food prepared in kitchen
|
|
Saturday, 09 November, 2019, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
|
|
Vijetha Iyer, Mumbai
|
Open kitchens or kitchens with glass panels or windows that will allow customers a view of the food being prepared or live cooking and hygiene maintained inside will now be a reality in Gujarat soon. The move is being made to maintain transparency in food preparation in hotels and restaurants in the state, learnt FnB News.
In this regard, the Food and Drugs Control Administration, Gujarat, as per the Chapter 5 under Section 18 (2) (d) with Section 16 (5) of Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006, dated November 8, 2018, will make kitchen visibility mandatory for hotels and restaurants in the state in the next couple of weeks.
Thechapter: “Good hygienic and manufacturing practices to be followed by licensed food business operators engaged in catering or food service operations,” makes it clear, “It includes premises where public is admitted for repose or for consumption of any food or drink or any place where cooked food is sold or prepared for sale.”
Explaining the move, Dr H G Koshia, Food Safety Commissioner, Food and Drugs Control Administration, Gujarat, told FnB News, “ We are empowering the consumers with this rule. Customers are very happy with this rule as they will know how the food is being prepared and they will know how hygienic it will be. Also, we have told the restaurants to remove the board in the kitchen where it is written as restricted area.”
He added, “We have submitted a direct letter to Hotels and Restaurants Association of Gujarat as this rule comes under Chapter 5 of FSSA. We have submitted the letter to district designated officers and corporation regarding the same. We just want everyone to follow it.”
Koshia informed, ”Some of the restaurants have already started the work of glass panels in the kitchen. So, when FDCA goes to check for the first time and if we see any restaurant keeping their kitchen unhygienic or unclean, then they have to pay around Rs 1 lakh fine. During our second visit in the same restaurant, if the kitchen is seen unclean and unhygienic again, then the restaurant may lose their licence, it may get cancelled too.”
Offering a trade perspective, Anurag Katriar, president, National Restaurant Association of India, said, “It is a good policy. It has both advantages and disadvantages. There should be implementation as it will have intellectual property issues. If young kids are going, then it will have problems as oil may spill and many other safety issues come under consideration. To let the consumers inside the kitchen isn’t the best solution. The consumers can watch through the glass panel which is good.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|