Street food on sale in Berhampur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, June 15: The charm of eating out comes with a small rider — do it at your own risk. This is because the municipal corporation does not have any employee to check the quality of food served at hotels and roadside eateries here.

“All the posts in the food section of the health department in the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) are lying vacant. Though one post of food safety officer (FSO) was sanctioned for BMC during its inception on January 1, 2009, no one has been appointed so far. One FSO is to be assisted by 2-3 technical staff members. The team could check sale of foods in unhygienic condition,” said Dr. Subhakanta Das, health officer of the corporation.

“We are not able to conduct a single raid to prevent sale of food items in unhygienic condition in Berhampur due to shortage of employees,” he said.

Only one FSO has been appointed in the office of the assistant district medical officer (ADMO), Ganjam, in the city hospital. However, the officer is also responsible for preventing sale of unhygienic food in the entire district.

The state government is trying sincerely to implement the Food Safety & Standard Act, 2009, to provide safe foods to the public.

“But we are lack basic infrastructure to provide food safety to the people. The state government must look into it seriously. We must initiate steps to give technical training to the employees to mobilise manpower,” said Ashok Kumar Shukla, a councillor.

Rasananda Mangual, head of the department, surgery, at MKCG Medical College and Hospital said: “Though many people are health conscious, they are bound to buy such food items under compulsion. If we do not prevent such things from happening, there isevery possibility of diarrhoea and viral diseases breaking out.”