Hoshiarpur: Health officials raid Soya Cafe, find kitchen full of cockroaches, flies

Hoshiarpur, September 19

To ensure healthy, hygienic and quality food items in the upcoming festivals, District Health Officer Dr Lakhvir Singh, Food Safety Officer Munish Kumar and a food safety team raided various restaurants and sweet shops in the city today.

Fourteen samples were collected from eateries. During raid at the famous Soya Cafe, officials were shocked to find the kitchen dirty and many eatables lying uncovered. The kitchen was full of cockroaches and dead flies.

A sample of soya chaap and cheese was collected from the cafe. The district health officer gave one week to the cafe owner to clean the place. He said if the situation continued till next week then the cafe would be sealed. The district health officer warned owners to maintain cleanliness to avoid sealing of their eateries.

The 14 samples collected include six of vegetable oil, one of rice, one of moth dal, two of lobia, one of masur dal, one of moong dal, one of cheese and one of chaap. These samples were sent to the food testing lab.

Dr Lakhvir said it was important for food business owners (FBOs) to obtain necessary licence and registration under the Food Safety and Standards Act. He said licences of many FBOs had expired. He warned that fines would be imposed on FBOs if they did not obtain licence and their shops could also be sealed.