Saeed Al-Suraihi

Okaz

 

Jeddah Municipality recently shut down a restaurant because one of the workers put leftover rice in dishes and served it to customers who apparently did not have a clue what they were being given. The municipality did the right thing when it closed the restaurant down.



It seems that it has taken this step after a video showing the worker doing this disgraceful act went viral on social media websites. Had it not been for this video, the municipality wouldn’t have known about the restaurant’s unhygienic practice.



The municipality’s inspectors have failed in their mission to monitor restaurants and places that might pose public health dangers. The role of inspectors, especially those in charge of the neighborhood where the unhealthy practice was discovered, should be reevaluated. It is the inspectors, not volunteers, who should catch such eateries.



The real problem is this restaurant will reopen soon and most probably will make more money from following unhygienic practices in absence of inspection visits from the municipality. It is not enough to impose fines on the restaurant or shut it down temporarily. Such a restaurant should be shut down permanently because it dared to serve bad quality food in complete disregard for customers’ lives.



The municipality says the restaurant’s workers should be rehabilitated and educated. I believe this is not enough. The least the municipality should do is to ask the employer to deport those workers or it should prevent them from working in any restaurant.