GHMC cracking whip on unhygienic hotels

Adarshnagar : With eateries and restaurants resuming their business with normalcy returning after the lockdown, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) food inspectors and officials are back in action raiding hotels following complaints.

In the recent weeks scores of them were also penalized for not adhering to the prescribed rules and regulations and maintaining hygienic standards at the premises. The health-conscious consumers who found eateries serving stale food and not maintaining hygiene in the kitchens and premises have resorted to lodge complaints against the hotels, particularly fast food centres in the city.

According to the GHMC authorities, the food inspectors under the supervision of health officials in the recent days increased the number of inspections at hotels to check whether the hotels were maintaining hygienic and clean standards.

The non-compliance was exposed in the latest raids on three hotels of which fines up to 25,000 each were levied on two hotels for not maintaining hygiene in the kitchen and using unstamped meat.

At present there are 21 food inspectors and one assistant food inspector and other higher officials engaged in upkeep of the hygiene standards at hotels under the GHMC limits.

Officials of Health wing told The Hans India that they would be conducting more random inspections and would check whether they are following the hygiene standards and the quality of the food being served. "We have been receiving complaints from the public that few hotels were serving stale food which was being kept in refrigerators for days," said one official.

"During inspection, if it is found that any food was being stored for a long time, we initiate severe action against the hotel and impose fines. A few of the restaurants were found using unstamped meat purchased from unauthorised slaughterhouses," he said, urging restaurant owners to use stamped meat purchased from recognised slaughterhouses.