BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has shut down half a dozen of roadside eateries, mostly ‘gupchup’ stalls, near Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) following an outbreak of jaundice in some hostels on the campus.
City food safety officer Satyajit Patel said in view of the outbreak, a raid was conducted on the stretch between Siripur and Gopabandhu squares on Wednesday to check if street vendors were adhering to food safety norms and maintaining hygiene. The stalls, especially the ones selling ‘gupchup’, have been shut down till Sunday as a precautionary measure.
Health officials suspect that the source of drinking water contamination could be from nearby eateries as the WATCO team has not found any contamination in the water supplied to the university.
Following the raid, BMC has collected food and water samples from the stalls near Siripur for tests. Additional district urban public health officer Dr Nilamani Senapati said a team is closely monitoring the situation.
Bhubaneswar mayor Sulochana Das said food safety officials and urban surveillance unit have been asked to continue raids on roadside eateries regularly to ensure that hygiene is maintained in preparing and serving food to customers.
So far, around a dozen of jaundice cases have been been reported in the hostels of OUAT. However, health officials have confirmed only five cases.