Food team checking a mess in Surat
Gandhinagar/Ahmedabad/Surat: Gujarat’s Food and Drugs Control Administration has launched a statewide special drive to check food quality and hygiene at hostel kitchens and canteens after around 100 students fell ill at a school hostel in Surat. As of Monday, officials had inspected 200 hostels and canteens across the state, including 47 govt-run, 21 semi-govt and 132 private facilities. The inspections led to 61 improvement notices being issued and 114 food samples being collected for testing. An official statement said the special drive was ordered by health minister Praful Pansheriya after food poisoning was reported at P P Savani school hostel in Surat’s Abrama area on Sep 13. AMC’s health and food department carried out checks under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Officials inspected food preparation methods, storage arrangements, kitchen and utensil cleanliness, drinking water facilities and waste disposal systems at 15 major establishments. A total of 31 messes and canteens attached to hostels and institutions were inspected.
The state govt subsequently directed officials to intensify checks on food quality, hygiene and sanitation at hostel kitchens and canteens across Gujarat. In Ahmedabad, the civic body has expanded its inspections to paying-guest facilities, university canteens and hostel messes. These included messes at AMC MET Dental College, Narendra Modi Medical College Girls’ Hostel, SVP Hospital’s Jayswal Canteen, M K Shah Medical College, L J College and GCS Medical College, besides private student PG facilities in Paldi, Sarkhej, Nikol and Maninagar. The facilities included those at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Kiran Hospital, diamond units, Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research, the Akshay Patra Foundation kitchen, New Civil Hospital, Govt Medical College, P P Savani School in Abrama, Adarsh Nivasi Shala in Sarthana, and Veer Narmad South Gujarat University.