KATHMANDU, Nov 23: A recent inspection by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) revealed that only 20 businesses out of 497 inspected are operating in compliance with regulations. Over 200 shops were found to be running without proper registration.
The KMC reported that its festival-focused monitoring, which began on September 26, uncovered widespread violations. Among the inspected shops, 133 were selling expired goods, 311 lacked price lists, and 200 were unregistered. The inspection covered 438 grocery stores, 18 sweet shops, 19 dry food stores, 7 spice shops, and 15 dairy shops.
KMC monitors 130 shops, finds expired goods in 22 shops
Nur Nidhi Neupane, Chief of KMC's Agriculture and Livestock Department, highlighted several issues, including the sale of expired items such as biscuits, chocolates, instant noodles, papadam, spices, ketchup, and jam. Other violations included storing food alongside chemicals, failing to display price lists, operating without registration, neglecting cleanliness, selling unlabeled products, and using uncertified weighing scales.
In sweet shops, approved food colors were used but often in inappropriate quantities. The inspection also revealed reused cooking oil, missing production and expiry dates on sweets, and poor hygiene in preparation areas, shops, and utensils. Neupane stated that the monitoring team provided on-site instructions to address these problems.
To enhance food safety, KMC is conducting a "Food Safety Boot Camp" to promote and certify food hygiene. According to Neupane, the first phase trained 300 small and medium eatery operators, while the second phase trained 321 meat-based food producers and sellers before Dashain. The third phase provided training to 162 individuals focused on sweet production hygiene for Tihar.
The KMC aims to ensure better compliance and improve food safety standards through continuous training and monitoring initiatives.
