Unhygienic restaurants to face music as drive begins today
UNB
Amid the growing concerns over unhygienic conditions in restaurants of the capital and the adulterated and low-quality but highly priced food items they serve, the government is going to conduct drives in the capital restaurants from today.
Mobile court drives will be carried out in restaurants of the capital in association with the health divisions of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) as well as Bangladesh Food Security Authority (BFSA), Food Minister Qamrul Islam came up with the disclosure while talking to UNB.
According to Bangladesh Restaurants Owners Association (BROA), there are some 5,000 restaurants in the capital while 2,000 of those do not have trade licenses. About grading of restaurants based on their standards, BROA President Khandaker Ruhul Amin said now there is no policy in this regard. We ve heard a policy is in the offing and we think itll be good for all if the policy accommodates the grading and food pricing systems. Most of the restaurants and food outlets do not maintain proper food standards and one is more likely to find unhealthy and unhygienic atmosphere in the kitchens of the restaurants, alleged Advocate Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan, general secretary of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB).
More worrying is that restaurants owners fix food prices on their own as there is no government regulation to set food prices, Kabir added.
Contacted, Chief Health Officer of DSCC Brig Gen Saidur Rahman said a restaurant, according to the city corporation act, could be fined Tk 5,000 if it is found to make and sell substandard food items. Its a very weak act as the amount of the penalty is so poor, he noted.
Asked about the drive to thwart the sale of stale and below standard foods in the food outlets, health officers at DNCC and DSCC informed they regularly carry out drives in the restaurants and take actions against the perpetrators.
On the other hand, Directorate General (DG) of Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) Abul Hossain Miah said his organisation, since its inception on April 6, 2010, has already disposed of 1,028 allegations out of 1,140 complaints related to food related crimes.
When a consumer lodges an allegation with us, we inspect the restaurant concerned, carry out investigation and penalise it through the food court if the allegation is proven, Abul Hossain said.
The restaurants owners are fined up to Tk 50,000 if they sell food at an excessive price, whereas if any consumer falls sick after having food of any restaurant the owner has to pay up to Tk 2 lakh as fine, he added. The government has enacted The Safe Food Act 2013 which came into effect on February 1, 2015.
The Bangladesh Food Safety Authorities (BFSA) started its journey very recently to implement the law to fight food adulteration.
Contacted, member secretary of BFSA Abdul Baten said the government enacted the law as well as established BFSA to ensure its implementation aiming to remove the lack of coordination of different ministries concerned for ensuring food safety.
