Next time you get lured by the aroma of hakka noodles and gorge on them in a roadside stall, exercise caution. The Chinese food cooked in a jiffy on stalls can make you sick. With around 600 IIT-B students felling sick after consuming Chinese food served in the hostel canteen, doctors' advice people to stay off it.
"Having Chinese food at roadside stalls is hazardous.They are great source of food poisoning. The preparation uses sauces which are harmful. Most of the content in the sauces are water. People should avoid having Chinese preparation outside," said Dr Pratit Samdhani, general physician of the Jaslok Hospital.
Experts say the Chinese food served in such stalls or canteens are more harmful than the vada pavs and ragda patis. "The Chinese junk food uses variety of sauces, which are of cold preparation. In comparison, vada pav or ragda patis are served hot. This makes them relatively less hazardous than Chinese foods served on roadside," said Rajol Patel, Public Health Committee chairman.
The health committee had earlier too discussed the perils of such food served on road stalls. "We found that Chinese bhel is also causes food poisoning. People give in to momentary taste and later run the risk of a huge health hazard like food poisoning or hepatitis," said Dr Anil Bandivedekar, executive health officer.
Different type of salts and chemicals like monosodium glutamate, commonly known agino-moto, are used as taste enhancer in its preparation. "In the preparation, the shop vendors don't exercise caution and use material which have gone stale and salts which have exceeded expiry dates," Patel added.
Meanwhile, the civic administration will keep a vigil on roadside food vendor. "We will renew our whip on 'khau gallis' where hawkers sell and cook food under unhygienic conditions. Illegal hawkers selling food will be removed," said a license department official.
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