With the rise in mercury, sale of unhygienic and substandard cold drinks, fruit juices and ice creams has also increased, as a large number of vendors have appeared on the roadside areas of the district of Jajpur and other areas, posing a serious threat to the health of people, especially children.
The vendors violating the standards of hygiene are selling juices of rotten fruits at low prices at various commercial localities, especially at the bus-stands. Adherence to cleanliness and hygiene is something they do not follow while washing the utensils and serving the customers in used glasses without washing them properly transferring innumerable germs to the customers
“Sale of spurious cold drinks or the drinks prepared under poor hygienic conditions is one of the main causes for various seasonal diseases among children in summer. Flies, wasps, mosquitoes and other such pests at the stalls of vendors make their beverages even more injurious to health,” said Dr Suresh Chandra Dalei Mohanty of Jajpur.
Many parents alleged that the sale of unhygienic food items continues throughout the year without any inspection by the concerned authorities though the situation worsens in summers. “Children easily fall prey to the colourful stalls and lip smacking ice creams and drinks ending up unwell,” said Alaka Sahani, whose eight-year-old son is undergoing treatment in a hospital at Chattia after drinking a few glasses of spurious cold drinks.
Almost all the juice and cold drink sellers use the ice prepared from polluted river water in factories to make the drinks which indirectly prove fatal to the health of consumers, said Dr B Parida, a retired physician of Bari.
“Food adulteration had always been a major contributor to the health problems of people due to ineffective control by the authorities. Every summer, the situation aggravates as hot weather prompts people to take drinks, which they would not have dared to have in normal days,” said retired doctor GP Das at Balichandrapur.
He further added that failure in ensuring clean and cold drinking water at public places by the administration has encouraged easy money makers to start businesses of spurious drinks. The ingredients used in the drinks such as food colours and saccharin instead of sugar are highly toxic which may lead to diseases such as typhoid, hepatitis, diarrhea, different kinds of infections and tonsillitis.
Dr Das demanded that the Government immediately impose a ban on the sale of unhygienic foods, especially outside schools. He further stated that if such a ban is not possible, the Government should direct roadside vendors to adopt strict safety measures like using disposable containers, paper glasses and proper covering of edibles. The measures should be implemented strictly and action be taken against the violators.