Students at OP Jindal Global University in Haryana have reportedly stopped eating at the campus canteen due to unhygienic conditions. This comes after a video of a staffer crushing boiled potatoes with his feet went viral across social media platforms.
The video shows a member of the kitchen staff wearing shorts, a shirt, and a head cap, using his feet to crush cooked potatoes placed inside a large container. In the video, the person off-camera says, “Chee! Yaar, main yeh khana nahi kha raha kal se (Eww! I am not going to have food here from tomorrow).”
As a result, students of the University reportedly stopped eating at the campus canteen to register their protest. This further forced the management to issue a show-cause notice to Sodexo, a global leader in the food business, that has been running kitchen operations at OP Jindal Global University.
Meanwhile the University registrar professor Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik, in an email to parents wrote, “We have ensured that the food material will not be used for consumption by members of the JGU community. As an immediate measure, we have issued a show-cause notice to the CEO of Sodexo India seeking a written explanation and assurances on this matter”, according to a report in Moneycontrol.
Sodexo, while responding to the University’s notice, stated that it was conducting a thorough audit of the entire food preparation process, after deep cleaning the kitchen. CCTVs were also installed in the kitchen, the company told the university.
“Concerned kitchen helpers and supervisory staff are on paid suspension, pending investigation, and will be treated in a just and fair manner,” Sodexo stated in an email, the report further said. “Meanwhile, 15 well-trained and seasoned supervisory staff from other Sodexo sites have been onboarded to drive rigour in the adherence to our stringent hygiene protocols.”
A food service action plan has also been formed by the company to prevent similar incidents and ensure that the students have access to food prepared in hygienic conditions. Under the plan, separate teams have been formed to supervise overall operations in the kitchen, recruit food safety managers, ensure non-stop surveillance at the kitchen, and address students’ grievances.