It was a disaster of gastronomic proportions at the Indian International Model United Nations (IIMUN) conference last week, where 300-400 participating school kids took ill after eating the lunch served by a popular eatery. There was a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raid on the restaurant and found the kitchen was filthy and was operating in violation of food safety norms.

The FDA now needs to look at the larger picture and crack down on all such food establishments. Mumbai’s foodscape is booming; every month, we have a new food delivery service launching, home chefs are mushrooming everywhere and a lot of them are retailing through aggregator sites. All these new entrants are jostling for a piece of the foodie pie. Reports state that the current size of the Indian food industry stands at R2,47,680 crore per annum and is expected to grow at 11 per cent to touch a staggering R4,08,040 crore by 2018, stated the National Restaurant Association (NRAI) of India in a 2013 report. The report also cites an increased presence of delivery and take-away formats, with consumers now increasingly using social media, food websites and mobile applications to order food.