Here is why Mumbaikars should take a note before they beat the summer heat with glasses of cold juices available in the city's streetside stalls
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In two separate operations carried out by civic officials and officials of Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), it is found that ice used by street side juice vendors in Mumbai was contaminated with E.Coli bacteria. The harmful bacteria is responsible for causing diseases like diarrhoea, urinary tract infection, anaemia, and, kidney failures.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, 70 percent of ice samples collected by FDA and civic officials were found to be contaminated with the bacteria. The officials have seized more than 23,000kg of such contaminated ice from different stalls across Mumbai and Thane. To prevent further sale, they have also destroyed stock of juices and cold drinks from 135 such stalls.
The drive was initiated after Infectious Control department recorded more than 916 cases of gastroenteritis in April 2017. “Gastroenteritis spreads through contaminated water, mostly during the monsoons. The reason it is spreading in the summer is because people are consuming contaminated ice and juices from the streets”, health officials have been reported as saying by the publication. Places like Kurla (207 cases), Govandi (97), Ghatkopar (92), Malad (79), Santacruz (70), Chembur (64), Dahisar (48) and Bandra (34) were worst hit.
FDA commissioner Dr Harshdeep Kamble told the website, "This issue starts only when factories and wholesale stores start storing ice under unhygienic conditions. These ice factories come up during the four months of summer. They make both edible and non-edible ice. While our officers are trying to find these factories, their sheer numbers makes it difficult to regulate."
Mumbaikars should therefore think before they quench their thirst with street side juices, sodas or even cold waters.
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