‘Contaminated ice used in petty shops leads to water-borne illnesses’

CHENNAI: You know summer is here when you find roadside juice shops mushrooming along the main roads in every neighbourhood of the city.

Fresh juice made with crushed ice may seem refreshing and healthy, but do you know anything about the quality of ice used in it?

The risk of cholera, diarrhoea, water-borne diseases is very higher during summer mainly because of the contaminated ice used in such shops, claim doctors in city-based government hospitals.

“It’s very common to see throat infections, diarrhoeal diseases, cholera and other bacterial infections during summer. The ice is prepared from unknown sources and used by roadside food and juice vendors,” says Dr P Balaji, dean, Stanley Government Medical College and Hospital. “Children are commonly affected by this, as they’re more vulnerable. It’s not just the mixing of ice in drinks; even if it’s not prepared and/or stored in a hygienic place, there can be a risk of various illnesses.”

Handling of ice by manufacturers or those who transport it are also to blame for increasing the risk of infection.

“Manufacturing units handle ice in huge quantity, and it’s sometimes stored in an unhygienic manner. This makes contamination easy,” says Dr Narendra Nath Jena, senior consultant and HoD-Emergency Medicine, Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre. “Most often, it’s because the water used to make ice is unclean. The external impurities can be cleaned but if the water is contaminated, infections cannot be contained.”

Officials from the Food Safety Department say that inspections have been conducted in ice manufacturing units to ensure that they do not violate any safety regulations. “We have issued instructions to eateries and juice sellers to use clean ice for preparing the drinks. We’ll be conducting inspections periodically to check if hygiene standards are being maintained,” said a senior official from the department.