More than 100 restaurant representatives attended a Food Safety Supervisor Training & Certification (FOSTAC) programme organised by Hotel and Restaurants Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) on Monday
We would rather run out of food by 10 pm than serve something that could be sub-standard,” said Nitin Kothari, owner of Mocambo and Peter Cat. Inspections should be held in a staggered manner throughout the year rather than once or twice, said Shiladitya Chaudhury, co-founder and owner of Oudh 1590 and Chapter 2. they tend to give out a wrong signal due to the hyped publicity While inspections are routine and they help.
The exercise will help to ensure hygiene,” said Chaudhury. the negative publicity accompanying the inspections has been demoralising, said Siddharth Kothari of Peter Hu off Park Street While a little more mindfulness and self-checks are all that bigger restaurants need. Kolkata : The closure of some restaurants and the inspections that have raised questions about their food quality have prompted several to initiate measures to ‘rectify deficiencies and enhance screening to ensure perfect hygiene’. Aimed at ensuring that pre-puja footfall don’t slide, restaurants are stressing labelling all food and reducing storage time for meat, spices and vegetables. Mocambo and Peter Cat on Park Street, which were also inspected last week, had a full house through the weekend. “Some customers were happy to find that we were open. In our case, nothing objectionable was found, though we will continue to stress more on food labelling and improved storage facilities. We have changed our refrigeration system a year ago which ensures quality. Our food stocks are always labelled and exhausted in a day or two. “While restaurant chains follow the standard practices and can afford to maintain proper hygiene, there are hundreds of standalone eateries which don’t. They should be sensitized and inspected periodically. “We upgrade our kitchen equipment and carry out self-inspections periodically, which help. Also, we have been labelling food for a long time. But this is a continuous process. We had many customers who were surprised to find us open and this will affect our footfall in the short-term,” added Kothari.
More than 100 restaurant representatives attended a Food Safety Supervisor Training & Certification (FOSTAC) programme organised by Hotel and Restaurants Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) on Monday. Two similar workshops will be attended by representatives of National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) member restaurants on Sept 18 and 21. “There is yet no complaint against any Kolkata restaurant but there is scope for improvement. My restaurants were inspected and everything was found to be in order. But there are lessons to be taken from these inspections. For instance, food labelling, which we always do, is a neglected area. It is extremely important to prevent the use of stale stuff. At my restaurants, we don’t stock for more than two days and kitchen staff are instructed to use the older material first.