Pune Student Finds A Dead Lizard In His Food Served In The Canteen

Pune Mirror reports that a student of Savirtibai Phule Pune Univeristy’s (SPPU) called Gautam found a dead lizard in the food he had ordered from the canteen. The student in his first year studying media and communication studies immediately saw the lizard in his Misal Pav and informed the Adarsh Canteen owner.

Lizard With Pav

“I had gone for breakfast with my friends and we ordered missal pav. I was about to eat it when I found a huge dead lizard in it. I was grossed out and we informed the canteen owner immediately about it. Even though they showed guilt and apologised for the incident, this is not the way to handle food that is served especially to students. The management must take stern action to ensure that such incidents come to a halt. As students, we put our faith in the university and expect them to abide by basic standards. We complained to the officials right away and they have assured us of action,” explained Gautam to Pune Times.

The publication also spoke to a second year student of the SPPU who told them that she had found plastic bits in the canteen food a few weeks ago. How can the university take such a serious issue so lightly? As students we hardly have time to notice this during rush hours. Who will be answerable if the students’ health is compromised?” she said.

The Unhygienic Food

Pune Mirror also spoke to the owner who expressed his regrets and said that the lizard incident must have happened due to heat. “I am extremely sorry about the incident,” said Amit Sawant, owner of the canteen. “The reptile must have probably fallen into the food due to the heat. We have apologised to the officials and also thrown out all the remaining food. We always ensure hygiene and make sure that the food served to students is of premium quality. I ensure that nothing of this sort will happen again. We are also making arrangements to put up exhaust fans inside the kitchen so that the heat is vented out.”

The registrar at the university, Arvind Shaligram, however was the one to take action and instructed the canteen to throw out the food. “Such things do not happen because of the SPPU management. They occur due to the carelessness of the contractors. But, we do not tolerate anything that would potentially hamper students’ health. Even when they found plastic in the food a few weeks back, we had issued a warning letter to them. If any such incident happens again, their agreement would be terminated,” he said.