G20 Summit: Delhi govt deploys officers to ensure safety of food served to delegates

Delhi government’s Department of Food Safety has deployed officers to ensure that the delegates arriving in the national capital for the G20 Summit are served hygienically cooked food during their stay at the city hotels.

Over 18 food safety officers have collected raw samples of ingredients that will be used in preparing the meals at the hotels.

“We do routine checking and sampling but in view of the G20 summit, we have deputed 18 food safety officers and are conducting laboratory tests on the samples being collected from the hotels since Monday,” a senior officer said.

Meanwhile, guests have already started arriving for the two-day-long G20 Summit with world leaders like US President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expected shortly.

Twenty-three five-star hotels have been designated for the stay of the dignitaries from different countries.

Hygiene check

Apart from checking the quality of food, the safety officers are also ensuring kitchen and staff hygiene, including cleaning utensils.

Before the food is served to the guests, it will also undergo close monitoring and be sampled for quality tests with the help of police, the officials said.

The senior official added that none of the food items will be prepared or served without undergoing lab tests.

The food safety officers will also keep a watch on the food served at banquets and other events of the summit. Normally, reports of food samples take 15-20 days to come, but the samples of the food material to be served to the G20 guests will be expedited and made available in a few hours, the officer said.

What’s on the menu?

The visiting dignitaries will be served sumptuous ‘all-vegetarian’ meals with a special emphasis on millet-based foods.

According to media reports, over 100 traditional and local delicacies will be served to the guests.

From Bihar’s Litti Chokha to Rajasthan’s Dal Bati Churma, dignitaries will be able to taste a little bit of every state during the two-day-long summit.

With inputs from PTI