Looking for dirt: Inspect restaurant hygiene on your own, suggest speakers

Say that customers should take measures to pressure owners into ensuring cleanliness at restaurants

KARACHI:

People should inspect hygiene in restaurants on their own and should visit the kitchens, suggested a speaker at a food safety and hygiene seminar.

"We have seen people kneading flour with long, dirty black nails at restaurants," said Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) food and quality control deputy director Dr Mohammad Irfan. "Bacteria start multiplying after every 20 minutes. So please wash your hands with warm water before preparing the food."

He was speaking at a seminar organised on Tuesday by the All Pakistan Restaurant Association (Apra) and the Karachi Association of Sweets and Nimco (Kasn) to mark World Health Day. The panellists discussed issues such as food handling and hygiene and stressed the need for food laws.

Talking about the role and responsibility of customers, Dr Irfan said that they should put pressure on the owners to ensure hygiene and cleanliness. "Customers should go and see their kitchens," he said. Kaukab Iqbal from the Consumer Association and Ahmed Chinoy from the Citizens Police Liaison Committee agreed with him. Chinoy added that there are only 14 food inspectors in Karachi to take care of a population of 25 million.

Talking about the shutdown of restaurants, Kasn president Sheikh Tehseen Ahmed said that the media should not just show unhygienic restaurants. "They should also shed light on the ones that are actually hygienic," he said. He added that food is the only source of entertainment for people. "They go to restaurants and eat food," he said. "If that is going to finish, then there will be nothing."

Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui also shared his thoughts. "If any premises are being the cause of any death, we will seal it," he said. He also emphasised the importance of consumers playing their role by questioning the owners and workers at restaurants.

Munazza Aftab, a food technologist for Apra and Kasn, discussed a few precautions in her presentation that should be taken to keep food clean. According to her, utensils, vessels and containers need to be cleaned, be it the production area of a bakery or a restaurant's kitchen. Broken, chipped or cracked crockery should be replaced immediately, she said, adding that the lead exposure that is a consequence of these cracks becomes the cause of different health hazards. Aftab said that the kitchens should be fumigated carefully twice a month to completely rule out contamination of food.

Dr Asma Saeed, a microbiologist at Karachi University, urged professionals to keep in mind the golden rules of the World Health Organisation for food processing and sanitisation. "We should take care of meat, poultry and dairy products among other items as micro-organisms grow rapidly on them."

Apra came into being after the Dilpasand incident, Aftab told The Express Tribune. "People belonging to the field made a platform where they could meet and conduct trainings."

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2015.