Restaurants should be regulated

It looks like urban food culture is incomplete without restaurant food. However, what food lovers are worried about is its hygiene. Even some of the most famous restaurants in Bangladesh reportedly serve their customers unhealthy and unhygienic food items. These food items are served attractively but prepared in dirty environment. Looking at these seemingly tidy restaurants, no one can imagine how unhygienic their kitchens are. They look posh from the outside, but the food ingredients they use are often rotten and kept in an unhealthy condition. Many of them even operate their business without health certificates.

We often see that mobile courts conduct raids on these restaurants and fine them for unhygienic and unhealthy food they serve. But soon after the operation, these restaurants start doing business as before. The authorities should tighten rules and regulations for quality control and ensure that all the eateries are following them. Regular checks and unannounced visits can compel the restaurants to maintain good standards and ensure safe conditions. The use of harmful ingredients should be banned. Only the certified ingredients should be used. Also, restaurants should train their staff about health and hygiene protocols and emphasise hygienic behaviour to prevent disease or bacteria spread.

Restaurants must ensure pest control in kitchens and dining areas. The unhygienic and unhealthy food from restaurants can cause more damage than an epidemic. Therefore, those who are found to violate the health and safety protocols should be given strict punishment and must not be allowed to conduct business as usual without changing their practices.

Ashikujaman Syed,

Foreign Service Officer,

Anhui Haikang Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd,

Anqing, China,

syedashikujaman@yahoo.com