Hygiene for Kitchens: Campaign gives Mumbai a hygiene dose

A week after DNA launched its Hygiene for Kitchens campaign, education and health experts have given a thumbs-up to the newspaper for its effort. Experts say this kind of a campaign is the need of the hour in a city like Mumbai, where most of the people eat out at least once a day. 

Through this campaign, people can become aware about food hygiene before eating out — it will change the mentality of the people, the experts added.

Even though people in the city are health conscious, they are not really aware about the right food hygiene habits which should be maintained at eateries.   

DP Sawant, minister of State for Higher and Technical Education,  said: “I congratulate DNA for running  such a campaign because canteen is the most neglected part in the college and hostel. I saw some of the students eating unhygienic food and suffer from serious medical problems.”

Students who stay in the hostel are forced to return home as they fall sick after eating unhygienic food from the canteen, he said. Sometimes, we conduct surprise checks in the canteen to ensure that the contractor is doing his job, said Sawant.

“DNA’s campaign is in the interest of the common man. It’s not often that the media initiates campaigns that guide people about the new norms in the Food Act. This kind of a campaign updates people’s knowledge about food hygiene,” said Mahesh Zagde, commissioner, Food and Drugs Administration.

Elaborating on the fact that health affected every aspect of a person’s life, Dr Rajan Welukar, vice chancellor, University of Mumbai, said:  “Health and hygiene is the most important subject in everyone’s  life. If your health is good then you can work efficiently. It is the duty of the institution to keep the canteen clean and serve hygienic food. The DNA campaign created a great impact in colleges.’’

Explaining the importance of health of the canteen staff, Dr Pravin Shingare, director, Directorate of Medical education and Research, said, ‘’Due to this campaign, most of the colleges know that they need a BMC licence to run a canteen. This is an informative campaign. At times, the staff looks healthy but they suffer from dangerous diseases. This initiative is  important for all eateries in the city.”

“This long-term initiative will create an impact. DNA really thinks about the common man’s needs. Once the people learn more about hygiene, the illnesses will automatically reduce,” said Dr Shilpa Joshi, Treasurer (Mumbai Chapter) Indian Dietician Association.