We were on a trip towards Pokhara after the devastating earthquake. Besides thinking about what we were going to do there I was also concerned about the quality and safety of food that we would be served in the highway hotels. Being a food tech I was much conscious to see the result after food quality stickers system had been initiated and implemented by the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control for highway hotels. I came to know that when officials inspected the highway hotels around May 2014 out of 258 eateries only 15 were found to be in perfect frame of hygiene and safety. It has been a year now and my expectation for improvement was there.

The bus started rolling and our journey began. Our first stop towards Pokhara arrived after two hours at Malekhu. The place seems to be perfect, and beautiful. When we went inside the hotel I started looking around not only at the hotel we were in but also those located near. My findings were disappointing with the food safety at ground zero, and there was a yellow sticker which indicates that the hotel needed improvement. However, I think if it was given to me I would have sealed those hotels for playing with public health. Well that was the first disappointing encounter, and my expectation went down, but somehow, I thought there might be other hotels on the way which must have tried to improve or improved a lot from the previous scenario.

Around another three and half hours later we reached Damuli which was our lunch spot. The hotel seemed to be okay from outside, and because of my first encounter I kept my expectation low. The hotel seemed to be clean but that is not the only criteria to judge. Because of its cleanness my expectation somehow pushed up but when I entered the kitchen I could not believe my eyes. It was filthy crossing all limitations. I searched for the stickers, but the eatery did not have it.

I had checked those stickers at Malekhu. I found the inspected date was one year ago and after that there was no re-inspection. So, what’s the point if it was just to show that only 15 eateries serve safe food. If the inspection and monitoring process is continued then, sooner or later, all hotels will have somehow improved themselves, not only for stickers, but also for their

business which will again depend on the colour of the stickers. When the monitoring process continues people will also be conscious forcing the business persons to maintain food safety of the hotels.