Speak up Mumbai: Your food may be one click away, but hygiene is not

With people preferring to order food in the comfort of their homes, the food delivery business has spiked drastically. They rely on online aggregators to ensure that the food is prepared hygienically with a quality control parameter in place. However, it seems the aggregators do nothing to ensure that their customers are served hygienic food items.

Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a notice to leading online aggregators — Zomato, Swiggy, UberEats and FoodPanda — pulling them up for tying up with unlicensed and unregistered eateries. The move has been taken a few days after the FDA officials inspected 347 eateries across the city out of which 113 were found to be operating in an extremely unhygienic condition. The FDA survey has revealed that the establishments of food processing working through these online apps and websites.

While the FDA has issued stop-business notices to these eateries and show cause notices to the online aggregators, citizens feel cheated. With the quality of food being compromised, they will never be able to trust these portals blindly again, they say.

VOICES

One or two actions cannot ensure safe and hygienic food being delivered by food aggregators. The government must frame laws to make them more responsible and accountable. Since the quality of food delivered by them can be judged only after it reaches home, safety is always an issue. And we don't even know where the food is coming from, or whether it is being prepared in a hygienic place. 
—Chandan Kumar, Ghatkopar

Though I would still be ordering from food-delivery apps, since it is more convenient for working professionals like me, I would mostly order from reputed places. Hereafter, I won't order food from anywhere and everywhere, I will read reviews, check images and ratings of each restaurant before ordering. I will also check out reviews and pictures of the same outlet in other apps. 
—Keith Vaz, Mahim

The only thing we expect from an eatery in return for money is good food made in hygienic conditions. When that basic requirement is compromised, the sense of trust is breached badly. Technological advancements have conveniently put food items on our mobile phones giving us plenty of food options to choose from. Considering the reputation of these portals, we trust them blindly with our food. Now I feel deceived, they had been playing with our health all the while! Strictest action should be taken against such people and eateries. 
—Radhika Shukla, Malad

There is a serious concern regarding food being ordered from outlets which are only virtually present on delivery portals like Swiggy and Uber Eats! I feel ordering from restaurants which we have personally visited certainly adds to its credibility. Only if Swiggy and Uber Eats start sharing location details and authenticated photographs of these delivery kitchens, then maybe it would encourage these kitchens to maintain high-quality standards and at the same time build confidence amongst customers! 
—Sagar Bekal, Ghakopar

It's not right to assume that food apps deliver good and healthy food. Especially when they are giving a discount, its to attract more customers. I had once fallen ill after eating from FreshMenu, which is known for its focus on serving fresh and nutritious food. I didn't order food after that incident. 
—Yashraj Akashi, Dadar

If we expect hygienic food in return for the hefty amount we pay for food, taxes, service charges and delivery charges, is it too much to ask? Ordering food from online sources is not a luxury, it just makes life easier for people who can't spare some time to step inside a restaurant and grab a bite. If that sole requirement is compromised then it's time to be alert. A watch mechanism should be set up to keep track and tab on employees working for the mobile apps. Strictest supervision should also be adopted to ensure a healthy and sound atmosphere for cooking food which does not go for a toss under any circumstances. 
—Viral Mistry, Dahisar

Any online delivery service is based on blind faith. Any product ordered from online service can be changed, but food doesn't fall in that category because people order food to consume it immediately. There is nothing wrong in ordering from an unknown source but before that, one should check reviews, ambience, menu and photo photos, which are available on the app. That will give you an exact idea about the product. 
—Prashant Nanaware, Kandivali west

As a hostelite, I am often tempted by the offers on these apps and sometimes have even ordered from unknown outlets. After the news broke, I feel cheated. From now, I will order only from known places. I appreciate the step taken by the FDA. However, it should not stop here. Apps or restaurant associations should ideally vouch for hygiene of outlets it is associated with. 
—Abhishek Gijare, Dadar

EXPERTSPEAKS

While trying every trick in their books to increase the number of orders, the online food aggregators should also take equal responsibility for the quality of the food. They should check the maintenance of the hygiene level before listing any food joint or eatery. We will be conducting more such surprise inspections in order to make sure that the citizens eat good quality food. 
—Dr Pallavi Darade, Commissioner of Maharashtra Food & Drug Administration

We thank the FDA for the action they have taken. Most of the outlets had high ratings and the apps were instrumental in the rise of these illegal eateries. These apps make a business from such eateries, which operate only as kitchens, and readily paid high commissions in exchange for higher ratings. These outlets can afford to give away food at a cheap price because they hardly adhere to any norm. Restaurants need to get licenses from the BMC, fire department and pay commercial rates on gas and water, which they don't. 
—Santosh Shetty, President, Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association