Monday, September 20, 2010

They know not what they eat


The street full of vendors, selling fruit and oily foods on Lake Area road off Valluvarkottam especially in the afternoons. And, who are the customers? Boys and girls, as there a number of schools in the area. 'Little do they know the harm these eats can do,' said a parent.

The vendors mostly sell guavas, slices of pineapple or when in season, mangoes. And nowadays nagapazham. Usually they are not very ripe and chilli powder and salt are added. 'This gives the fruit and tangy taste,' said some of the children, and their elders too. It is fun for the youngsters, and at that age who is bothered about health or hygiene?

True, maybe, but the school administration ought to take steps to drive these vendors away and tell the pupils that it not good to eat anything not covered or cooked outside, for the oil, especially will not be of good quality. 'Another thing, if the vendors are not around, the children will not be able to buy all that stuff,' said some parents.

All the vendors keep the slices of fruit in a basin, exposed, and our roads are full of dust. 'What happens when a lorry passes by, and there are so many puddles and garbage heaps on the road? Need anyone say where the flies come from?' said some of the parents at the gate of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan. They had come to take their children home.

The cost is not much, for the children. A guava or a slice of pineapple may be got for Rs 2. Some said they got health problems. 'Once I got a stomach ache and diarrhoea eating the spicy fruit and after that I stopped,' said Selvi, a student.

C.Muniappan, Principal of Chennai school, said, 'We have told the students not to buy and eat from the vendors. The problem is once out of school hours we can't control them.Whenever vendors come and sell near the gate of the school, we chase them away. But they keep coming back. It is for the parents to make their children aware of the unclean fruit slices.'

The vendors selling unhygienic fruits in front of the schools are not a rare case, you can see a plenty of vendors near the schools all over Kerala and Tamilnadu(I been to this places only) It is the duty of parents to make aware of children about the importance of having hygienic food.

(Courtesy: Nungambakkam Talk)

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