UP Orders Eateries to Display Owners' Names After Incidents of 'Spitting, Urinating’ on Food, Juices

New Delhi: In a move to address recent allegations of food contamination involving incidents of spitting on chapatis and mixing urine in fruit juices, the Uttar Pradesh government has mandated that dhabas, eateries, and restaurants prominently display the names of their owners, managers, and staff members. The directive was issued by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday.

During a high-level meeting with senior officials, Adityanath ordered a statewide campaign to inspect all such establishments and to conduct police verification of all employees. “This process should be started immediately by joint teams of the police, food safety, and drug administration, along with local officials,” he instructed.

If reports are to be believed, the chief minister also suggested amending existing regulations, if necessary, to better safeguard public health. “If required, rules should be amended to ensure the health safety of the common people,” Adityanath stated.

The directives come in response to a series of reported incidents across the state and the country involving the contamination of food products with human waste. “Such incidents are disgusting,” Adityanath remarked, expressing his concern over the growing reports.

To further strengthen measures, the chief minister called for the installation of CCTV cameras in eateries. These cameras should cover not only customer seating areas but also other sections of the establishment. “The owners will have to preserve the CCTV feeds and will provide them to the police if required,” he added.

The announcement follows Adityanath’s remarks made during the inauguration of a floating restaurant in Gorakhpur, where he referred to incidents of alleged spitting and urine mixing in food and drinks. 

For the unversed, recent viral videos have unveiled shocking incidents involving juice vendors in Uttar Pradesh, leading to public outrage and police intervention. One of the incidents occurred in Shamli, where a man was filmed mixing his spit into juice, the disturbing act captured on CCTV near the local flower market on Monday afternoon. The footage quickly went viral, prompting the Sadar Kotwali police to apprehend the accused juice vendor.

In a separate incident in the Loni Border area of Ghaziabad, another viral video surfaced showing a juice shop owner allegedly mixing his urine into the juice before serving it to customers.