Chennai: While getting our food parceled in plastic packets, the fact which we fail to notice is that the person who packs the food blows air into the small plastic packets to open them, whereby the bacteria from his mouth get deposited in the packet.
The recent test conducted by the National Agro Foundation, a Chennai-based voluntary research organisation, reveals that colonies of bacteria were found in the food packets after air is blown into it.
They have asked the restaurants not to allow their staff to blow air to open plastic packets and also ensure that their staff clean their mouth properly.
Explaining the study, J. Sai Baba, who heads the food safety division of NAF, said, “We found in many restaurants that the staff blows air into the plastic packet to open it. There are possibilities that the unclean oral cavity might transfer some bacteria into the food packet. When we tested the blowing method, we found colonies of bacteria grew in the tested plate.” He added that bacteria spread in the food packet would lead to dysentery and vomiting.
Mr Sai Baba’s team member and microbiologist M. Krishnamurthy said, “If the restaurant staff suffer from cough, cold or fever, the infection would pass to the consumer through the packaged food.”
He said, “Blowing air into the plastic packet should be seen as injecting microbes into the packet.”
