Corporation tracks dirty dining

KOCHI: The Health Department of Kochi Corporation seized stale food from hotels and restaurants in the city on Tuesday. The raid, carried out by a special squad consisting of health officials, unearthed spoiled food materials and rancid oil from three eateries here.“We have seized stale food from three hotels - Gokul Nivedyam Restaurant at Shiva Temple Road, Regency Eat’n’Park and K R Bakery at Thevara. Such raids would continue for next three to four days and legal action will be taken against food joints selling stale food,” said T K Ashraf, Chairman, Health Standing Committee, Kochi Corporation. Raids were carried out mainly at 10 hotels in Thevara and nearby areas.He said that some of the hotels were found to be short on cleanliness and lacking mechanisms to ensure maximum hygiene. “We have already served notices to these hotels. If they fail to take necessary actions to improve the conditions and ensure cleanliness, we will go ahead with procedures including cancellation of licences,” he added. The Health Department officials also carried out raids at Thevara market and seized plastic bags which are already banned by the civic body. “Some shops still use plastic bags instead of eco-friendly paper bags. We are planning to impose fine on those shops which supply materials in plastic bags,” he added.Ashraf said that the civic body was going ahead with its plans to launch a grading system to ensure supply of quality food in a hygienic environment by the restaurants in Kochi. “The plan is to rate restaurants and to provide them with Grades A, B, and C. The criteria for grading includes quality of food served, hygiene condition of the kitchen and premises, purity of drinking water, suitability of water used for cooking and efficiency in customer service,” he said.The plan was actually proposed last year and the Health Department is hopeful of implementing it soon. “We will soon hold  discussions with the hotel and restaurant owners in this regard,” he added.