In this week’s episode of South Central, hosts Dhanya Rajendran and Pooja Prasanna first discuss raids and inspections across the country at restaurants and the prevalence of contaminated food even at top-end eateries. They are joined by food influencer and author Krish Ashok, and TNM reporter Shivani Kava.
Krish says that the issue must be framed against the context of a country that does not have adequate resources or regular systems in place to ensure food safety. “In general, governments, states, civil servants and so on have gotten social media savvy. There is a tendency to go after theatre, and go to places where the raids will result in drama and shock. So a lot of systemic checks are not met. We are getting better, but that does not mean things are not bad. And if we dig deeper, food safety in India has never risen above what is available in a third-world country,” he explains.
