Display food’s date and time: HC to eateries considering ‘Shawarma death’ case

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to instruct all eateries in the state to carry date and time of foods on their packaging.

The court made the significant direction while considering a case where a woman’s daughter died last year from food poisoning, The Indian Express reported.

The girl was suspected to have died from poisoning after eating shawarma at an eatery.

‘The endeavour of this court is to ensure that such incidents never happen in the future. This court is aware that the Food Safety Commissioner had issued an order in January, this year, disallowing the use of raw eggs in the production and storage of mayonnaise (which is often served with shawarma). It was brought to my notice that there was an incident of death by suspected consumption of ‘shawarma’ in the recent past,’ the bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, State Food Safety Commissioner Afsana Parveen told the court that the government had issued guidelines to eateries to exhibit the date and time of cooking of shawarma on parcels last year, which the court welcomed.

The court however stressed about the need for awareness among consumers and eateries regarding ‘pitfalls of consuming shawarma’.

“However, the battle is far from being won. Unless the eateries and consumers are made aware of the pitfalls of consuming ‘shawarma’, except in the manner as governed by the applicable Regulations, Rules and Circulars, such accidents may continue to happen, as we have seen in the recent past,’’ the court was quoted as saying.