Shillong, May 24: Assistant Commissioner of Food Safety, DBS Mukhim on Wednesday issued a temporary closure order of the five tea stalls in Polo and Fourth Furlong area.
Mukhim issued the temporary closure order after inspecting the five tea stalls along with the staff of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB).
The five tea stalls that were issued with the temporary closure order include Laxmi Mistan Bhandar, Meghalaya Mistan Bhandar, Vishal Sweet, Jalpan Sweets Stand and Rice Hotel and K Sweet.
It may be mentioned that the magistrate had closed down these five tea stalls on Tuesday following an inspection of members of the KSU Shillong Mihngi Circle.
Talking to a section of the reporters, Mukhim said that all these five tea stalls are in a very unhygienic and unsanitary condition.
She further said that the way they are preparing the food poses a great threat to the safety and health of the consumers. Drains are not properly there.
According to her, waste matters from these tea stalls are not treated and this is another issue adding that all of them directly release the waste into streams which is a very serious matter.
“As of now I have given a temporary closure order. As soon as I reach I will be issuing a proper order where I will mention all the points which these tea stalls need to be corrected,” Assistant Commissioner of Food Safety said.
Pointing out that the utensils used by these tea stalls are not clean, she further said that the raw materials, oils and fats used by these tea diaries are not properly stored.
Mukhim said that only one out of the five tea stalls has a hand washing station. This is another issue that needs to be looked after.
Assistant Commissioner of Food Safety said that medical checkup certificates of the employees are not there.
She further said that only one tea stall has a valid license while the remaining four does not have a license which is in violation of section 31 (i) of Food Safety and Standard Acts, 2016 and it is an offence.
Mukhim said that she has also found that there are no proper toilets for the staff, no pest control and they are using domestic cylinders for cooking.