HUMAN STOOL FOUND IN ROAD-SIDE CHAAT, MOMOS, FUCHKAS ETC.

TNI News Service (TNS)

Webdesk, TNI New Delhi, 3rd June, 2015: A latest study has found high faecal contamination in such fast food and junk food items, especially in several west and central Delhi localities. Underlining that street food and hygiene have always been strange bedfellows, the study by Institute of Hotel Management, Catering and Nutrition, Pusa, shows the extremely high volume of E. coli bacteria, which can cause severe infections, in these snacks. Taking note of the report, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has written to Delhi’s food safety commissioner to check the quality of street food items. “We conducted the study to analyze the microbial load in Delhi’s street food. It was done with a survey of commonly consumed street food by 100 individuals,” said Dr. Arpita Sharma of the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering, and Nutrition.” We chose five locations in West Delhi, where daily sales were the maximum, for collecting samples. For microbial analysis, five street and five franchise food products were taken from the most popular shops. We collected food samples (Samosa, Fuchkas, Burger, and Momos) twice from the street shops and franchise outlets at a one-month interval,” she said, adding that the samples were drawn from the west and central Delhi. To the surprise of scientists, even samples from posh areas like Connaught Place were found infected with bacteria. Other famous markets from where samples were lifted are Rajouri Garden Main market, Rajendra Place, and Subash Nagar. The normal Most Probable Number (MPN) of coliform bacteria is 50 or less as per the Central Pollution Control Board, but it was found to be over 2,400 in the samples of branded burger, vegetarian and non-vegetarian momos and other food items. The bacterial pathogens commonly found in street eateries are Bacillus Cereus (causes vomiting and diarrhoea), Clostridium Perfringens (abdominal cramps and diarrhoea), Staphylococcus Aureus (vomiting, appetite loss, abdominal cramps and mild fever) and Salmonella species (typhoid, food poisoning, irritation and inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract). “This is a matter of great concern. I would never eat street food after reading this report,” said Dr. Shobha Broor, a microbiologist at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). “The report literally means that whatever we eat, we are ingesting faeces.”