The practice of handling food items with bare hands is apparently rampant in some of the smaller cafeterias and other eateries in Doha, it is learnt.
“While a large number of restaurants in the city are strictly following the municipal guidelines, there have been several complaints about the operations of many others, especially small outlets in busy areas,” a resident told Gulf Times.
It is understood that the issue has not been effectively dealt notwithstanding the inspections carried out by municipal authorities at some of the restaurants operating in busy areas of the city. Though the monitoring by municipal authorities had a positive effect in some of the localities during the second half of the holy month of Ramadan, still there were instances of residents complaining of restaurant operators paying no attention to such issues as handling of food items with bare hands.
Regular customers at some of the restaurants told Gulf Times that despite their complaining to the operators, there were instances of their staff openly flouting municipal guidelines and instructions on hygiene and cleanliness, mainly by handling food with bare hands.
“Sometimes it is found that such problems are happening at restaurants which were penalised by authorities in the past following similar or same complaints,” said a customer. He said the staff at some of the restaurants had no qualms in handling food items with bare hands in front of their customers.