Rajbiraj, June 26

A market monitoring team today found that many hoteliers and sweet shop operators were serving unhygienic food items to customers in Rajbiraj, Saptari.

The monitoring team comprising local representatives, officials from the Office of Cottage and Small Scale Industry, representatives from consumers’ forum and chambers of commerce and industry, among others, inspected several eateries and sweet shops in Rajbiraj.

“Hotel operators were found displaying foodstuff and dishes openly without maintaining sanitation and cleanliness,” said Cottage and Small Scale Industry chief Radha Krishna Pokhrel. He said that such acts not only posed serious threat to consumers’ health but also impacted the health of hotel workers and operators themselves. He further said that they warned of action if they were again found selling unhygienic food items.

Food supervisor Suresh Kumar Singh, a member of the monitoring team, said hotel and sweet shop operators had failed to meet the minimum criteria and had compromised the health of hundreds of consumers. He directed them to use nets to cover dishes, use refrigerators and maintain sanitation and cleanliness inside the hotels.

Civil Judicial Consumers’ Forum Chairperson Ram Kumar Yadav said the kitchens of such eateries and fish and meat shops were dirty and unhygienic. Date-expired daily essentials worth around Rs one lakh were also seized from those shops and destroyed. Those shops which were opened without registering with the administration were also asked to get registered.

Meanwhile, Saptari Chambers of Commerce and Industry Vice-chairperson Gauri Shankar Sah pledged make market monitoring effective and regular.