Uttarakhand: Food safety standards to be strictly followed on Chardham route

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], May 3 : The administration has instructed the owners of hotels and shops on the Chardham Yatra route to strictly follow the food safety standards.
Commissioner of Food Safety and Drug Administration Dr R Rajesh Kumar said that if the safety standards are ignored, the hotel owner and shopkeepers will be punished.
Apart from this, the food officers of that area can also be punished.
"The action will be taken against the hotel operators who play with the health of the pilgrims. I have instructed the officials to implement the action plan in this regard," Kumar said.
The Medical Health and Medical Education Secretary has ordered the concerned officials of all the districts in this regard to ensure the quality of the food items being sold on the Chardham Yatra route.
Under this, the food businessman will display the prescribed food safety display board at his establishment as per the rules. It has been said in the order that there should be cleanliness in the dhabas.
"Stale and open food items should not be sold. Apart from this, instructions have also been given to ensure that the health of the employees working in the dhabas is regularly checked and their medical certificates are available," the Commissioner of Food Safety and Drug Administration said.
He also said that the State Food and Drug Analysis Laboratory Rudrapur has been ordered to test the samples collected from the Chardham Yatra on priority.
"The test report of the samples will be made available every week. After which strict action will be taken against those found guilty," he added.