Visakhapatnam: Diners seek concrete solution to maintain quality standards

Visakhapatnam: Making up for the loss incurred, even popular restaurants are not thinking twice to serve stale food to customers.

For many of them making profits precedes safeguarding customers' health. Since consumers are not confident to venture into small eateries fearing poor quality standards, they prefer branded restaurants to dine even if it means paying a fat bill.

Just a few days before, popular restaurants and hotels in Vijayawada were raided only to find stale and leftover food being served to customers.

The picture is no different in Visakhapatnam. However, whenever the food safety officers go on a raiding-spree, they end up discovering lapses in maintaining quality standards in hotels. From using preservatives to non-permitted food colours and serving stale food to customers, the non-compliance to safety norms appear to be the same most of the time. But what needs to be focused is to figure out a concrete solution to avoid recurrence of such practices.

Sharing statistics, Food Safety Officer of GVMC, V Appa Rao, says that already 21 hotels and restaurants are being served notices for violating safety norms. "Samples have been collected and sent to the lab. Action will be initiated against the management once we receive the report," he says.

The diners opine that the raids should go beyond food testing, seizing sub-standard food, collecting samples, sending them to Hyderabad-based laboratory and waiting for weeks to get reports. "The system will not change by charging an 'affordable' fine and serving a notice.

The authorities concerned should go beyond their regular checks. Cancelling the licence of the restaurants and initiating stringent action should be considered in order to avoid recurrence of violations. Ultimately, it is the life of the customer that is at stake," says N Srinivas Rao, an entrepreneur.