Archives

CMC pounces on mobile food outlets

by Bharatha Malawaraarachchi

Colombo Municipal health officials last Friday night faced an unexpected protest from consumers and owners when they conducted a sudden inspection on mobile fast food outlets along pavements in the city.

The night raid was conducted on the requests made by the public to ascertain the hygienic condition of the food sold at these temporary stalls which are in operation only in the night." There are over 100 such places and all of them are unregistered and illegal, a senior Municipal Health official said.

He said, nobody seems to be aware of the conditions of various food items including hoppers, Kottu roti, string hoppers, rice and curry which are available at these stalls. "They come in a vehicle with these foods, sell them and then vanish. No one seems to care about the quality of the foods and where they are prepared," the official added.

Each stall has a clientele of around 500 persons and customers are served from afternoon to midnight.

Amidst protests from both owners and clients, officials obtained samples of the food items for further investigations.

However, the official said removing these stalls which cater to a large number of persons in the city is not a viable solution. Instead, steps should be taken to improve their condition and regularise those stalls.

The Municipal Health authorities plan to launch surprise raid on these stalls every week. 

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager