Don’t stock up food for over 2 days: Food association tells restaurants in Kolkata | Kolkata News

Kolkata: Procure fresh food items daily and stock up less on supplies, this is the message from restaurants’ bodies to eateries across Kolkata after a series of inspections conducted over the last fortnight, which had resulted in closure of some eateries.Restaurants across Kolkata have started taking up renewed measures to ensure cleanliness and hygiene at the outlets, including an adherence to the advice of not storing food for more than 36 to 48 hours, unless kept under frozen conditions.Internal training programmes are being re-conducted and food safety guidelines are being reinforced at several well-known restaurants that have already been inspected by the civic authorities at least twice since Sept. The Hotel and Restaurants’ Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) and the National Restaurants’ Association of India (NRAI) have asked members to ensure that the Food and Safety Training & Certification (FOSTAC) guidelines be followed strictly and warned that flouting norms could lead to de-affiliation from the membership.The HRAEI has issued an advisory asking members not to stock up even uncooked ingredients for more than three to four days.“We have also stressed on labelling food items, which is now mandatory for all to ensure that stocks are fresh, be its cooked or raw ingredient. While these are standard norms that we have been stressing on for the last two months, we have asked members to stick to these or face consequences,” said HRAEI president, Sudesh Poddar.After training programmes were organised by the Food and Safety Training & Certification (FOSTAC) for food supervisors across restaurants in the city in Sept and Oct, safety training workshops have also been scheduled for Dec. This is an exception as usually such training workshops are completed before Durga Puja.The NRAI has urged members to conduct food safety audits regularly and continue internal checks. “The action taken against some eateries last week have again raised questions about food safety, which need to be addressed,” said Sagar Daryani, national president of NRAI. “We buy chicken, vegetables and most other ingredients that last for a day-and-a-half. In case we start running out of stock, online orders are placed for immediate replenishment,” said Poddar.