Beware, food handlers can pass on diseases

Munching yummy pav bhaji and slurping chilled coke amid the cacophony is a common scene in a college canteen.

As students share gossips and notes in between stuffing themselves, who has time to think about food poisoning or the canteen boy's health.

Rizvi Law College student Aditi Galgali said she doesn't pay heed to health and hygiene of the canteen food handlers.

"Many times, I have seen that canteen people are not clean and suffer from diseases. But what can we do?" she said.

Students risk their own health with this careless attitude. Hygienic and disease-free food can be guaranteed only when food handlers (cooks, packers, servers) are clean and free from infectious diseases. This is what the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, says which came into effect across India in August this year. "If a food handler is infected, the food handled by them may carry bacteria/ viruses or moulds," said Food and Drug Administration officials.

Not only the consumers, the canteen owners too ignore this due to sheer lack of knowledge. "Health and cleanliness of canteen people is equally important when we talk about hygiene in the kitchen. Their health should be periodically monitored as per food safety guidelines. They should not be infected with TB, diarrhoea, flu, typhoid, hepatitis or any other infectious disease as they can be the carrier of the disease," said Dr Atul Adania, assistant medical director, HN Hospital.