The office is currently monitoring eateries in the cities and other places along the highways that are generally filled with commuters.
Officials at the DFTQC said that the decision to inspect the eateries in the Valley was taken in response to the growing complaints about the substandard foods being sold in the hotels and restaurants in the Valley. [break]
According to DFTQC Spokesperson Pramod Koirala, the office will start inspection in the Valley once it completes the ongoing monitoring of the eateries along the major highways.
The office recently has completed inspection of hotels and restaurants in Chitwan. Out of 28 hotels and restaurants inspected, only two got green sticker indicating that they serve hygienic foods that people can consume without any hesitation.
The office has created four types of stickers which it assigns to hotels and restaurants based on the hygiene and quality of foods they serve.
The green sticker implies good hygiene practices. A yellow sticker with a single red strip means moderate quality and a sticker of the same color with two red strips suggests that the food might be problematic. The office said that a red sticker would indicate great risk and that such hotels should not be allowed to operate.
"The inspections will continue until they improve the quality of food," said Jiwan Prava Lama, director general of DFTQC, adding, "Our mobile van is busy inspecting foods served along highways."
The office has deployed a mobile van having advance laboratory facilities to inspect food items instantly.
Lama also said that the office has plans to stick awareness stickers inside passenger buses that ply the highways. "Such informative stickers would help travelers decide where to eat," added DG Lama. She hoped that such move will also prod the entrepreneurs to improve the hygiene of their eateries.
The office said that substandard and unhygienic food items pose serious health risks for consumers. People traveling through national highways have very few choices other than the foods available there. The office hopes that hotel and restaurant entrepreneurs will improve the conditions at their establishments to secure green sticker.
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