After hotels, toddy shops under scanner

Close on the heels of the raids on hotels, the Health Department has identified a number of toddy shops in the state that sell food under unhygienic conditions and operating without a certificate from the respective local bodies.

According to the Public Health Act, like hotels and restaurants, all toddy shops should acquire Dangerous and Offensive (D and O) Trades licence from the respective local bodies for selling food items.

The Food Safety authorities stated that toddy shops would be given the licence to serve food only if the owner has a sanitation certificate from a health inspector, along with the health cards of the shop assistants and food servers.

State Food Safety Commissioner Biju Prabhakar told Express that almost all toddy shops in the state do not possess a D and O licence from the local bodies, and this has led to the rise of filthy and unhygienic conditions of the shops.

“We were notified that none of the bearers of the toddy shops possess health cards and sanitation certificates, implying that the shop owners don’t have D and O licences,” he said.

Biju Prabhakar stated that he is yet to monitor toddy shops violating food safety norms. “However, almost all toddy shops don’t hold D and O licences. We will take strict action against the toddy shops for providing food under unhygienic conditions,” he added.

J Sadanandan, Additional Director of Panchayats, said that the violation has caused revenue loss for the local bodies. “Crores of rupees could be collected from all the 4,135 toddy shops functioning in the state,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kerala Toddy Workers’ Union secretary K Sivan cited the lethargic attitude of the local bodies as the main reason for the unhygienic conditions prevailing in toddy shops.

“Food is the chief source of revenue for toddy shops. But the authorities are hardly concerned about the poor conditions of the toddy shops.

Many toddy shops sell old or stale food. Chicken is brought from Tamil Nadu because it is inexpensive there,” he said.

Excise Minister K Babu said that he was unaware of such an issue.