By Dilanthi Jayamanne
The Public Health Department of the Colombo Municipal Council would inspect food which is brought into the city in vans from next week. Chief of the CMC Public Health Department, Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam said yesterday that a majority of these vans were from outside the city.
He said the PHD would take food samples for testing during inspections. It would also issue instructions to those who prepared those food items such as hoppers, string hoppers and other preparations to obtain a certification from the Medical Officer of Health of the area. Dr. Kariyawasam said the PHD was concerned regarding food that was sold from these vans as no monitoring was carried out for their hygienic quality.
Dr. Kariyawasam said that 35 percent of lunch samples that had been taken from those who sold them in parcels and boxes on the sidewalks were stale or on the verge of getting spoilt. Most of the ones that were spoilt were those which had been purchased in the late afternoon.
Most of the lunch and dinner items were prepared either during the early hours of the morning or the afternoon and are parceled while hot. By the time it reaches the city the food has an adequate amount of microbes for it to be unfit for human consumption.
Both lunch and dinner should be sold within four hours of preparation, he added.
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