One lakh eateries in Bangalore, only 6 inspectors

How safe is the food that’s served to you at your favourite  ‘darshini’ or coffee shop? With only six food inspectors in the municipal corporation’s health department to check around 1lakh eateries, the situation is grim.

Food inspectors are supposed to conduct regular checks to inspect how food is being cooked and ensure cleanliness both inside and outside the eatery. However, the BBMP is facing an acute shortage of food inspectors. The request to appoint more inspectors has been languishing on the BBMP commissioner’s table for a while now.

BBMP chief medical officer Dr LT Gayathri said: “Is it possible for six food inspectors to cover 800sqkm of Bangalore, where hotels, restaurants and eateries spring up every other day. They have their own ranges and whenever a compliant is received, they collect food samples and send it for testing.”

Each inspector has four to five ranges each under their purview. A ‘range’ may be as big as Jayanagar, which is divided into nine blocks, or Kormanagala which has six stages. Each of these areas has 300 to 400 eateries, apart from star-hotels and coffee shops.

“An eatery is checked once a month or once in two months,” said a source. Inspectors are burdened and want more officials to be appointed, but there’s no headway yet.

With the salmonella scare following deaths of big cats in Bannerghatta national park, the fear of infection remains.