KOCHI: The Kerala Hotels and Restaurants Association (KHRA) will move the High Court against the Kalamassery municipality, alleging a vicious agenda in the civic body’s release of a list of 50 eateries and bakeries supposed to have sourced stale meat from a supplier. The association said many of the names in the list had stopped procuring meat from the accused distributor two to three years back.
“We have decided to move the High Court in this regard and have sent a legal notice to the municipality chairperson and secretary,” said G Jayapal, president of KHRA, adding that the list published by the municipality contained names of bakeries and restaurants that were no longer sourcing meat from the trader.
Kalamassery municipality published a list after seizing 500kg of stale poultry meat, also known as ‘tsunami chicken’, from the house of the supplier. “Most of the 50 named eateries are bakeries; a few of them closed down a year ago; and, only 10 restaurants are registered under KHRA,” said Jayapal.
“The ones registered under KHRA had purchased meat from Junaise (the accused trader) two or three years ago. There is no credibility in the list published by the municipality. It has only affected the business and livelihoods of innocent hoteliers. Therefore, we want a legal and transparent procedure to be followed when it comes to inspections of eateries by officials,” he added.
According to Jayapal, the back-to-back food poisoning cases, surprise inspections and false communication by authorities have resulted in a 40% decline in business for hotels across the state in the last few months.
KHRA officials said that they suspect an agenda behind the move by the municipality as there were more eateries’ names on the list that were not disclosed to the media. Representatives also said that they are not against implementing law and order.
“We are against false accusations by health officials. This affects the livelihoods of hotel owners,” said K U Nasser, state secretary of KHRA. “The same was discussed at the meeting held with the health minister recently. “They have assured to do what is necessary,” he added.
On the health ministry’s decision that restaurants selling food parcels should have stickers with details such as the date and time of the preparation of the food and the time within which the item should be consumed, Jayapal said, “We fully support the decision. We have already started to provide details in the bill. Moreover, we have begun issuing health cards to employees of restaurants under the association,” he added.
Traders’ body backs raids, urges govt to streamline efforts
Kochi: The Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi (KVVES) on Sunday made clear that it is against food adulteration. The statement comes in the wake of the recent raids at eateries across the state after a string of food poisoning cases. KVVES president V K C Mammed Koya said his organisation would take strict action against its members if held for food adulteration.However, he urged officials to hold regular checks rather than rush them when food poisoning cases are reported.“We are not against the checks. However, our stand is that these checks should be done regularly,” Koya said. He also added that there should be more laboratories and more trained personnel for conducting food-related enforcement activities.
Traders’ body backs raids, urges govt to streamline efforts
Kochi: The Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi (KVVES) on Sunday made clear that it is against food adulteration. The statement comes in the wake of the recent raids at eateries across the state after a string of food poisoning cases. KVVES president V K C Mammed Koya said his organisation would take strict action against its members if held for food adulteration.However, he urged officials to hold regular checks rather than rush them when food poisoning cases are reported.“We are not against the checks. However, our stand is that these checks should be done regularly,” Koya said. He also added that there should be more laboratories and more trained personnel for conducting food-related enforcement activities.