Hygene Langar

[Big_Tera]

Are Gurdwaras all hygenic in terms of Langar food preperation? ie are there inspectors who check that high standards are kept? Such as hand washing ect and cleansiness.

[MisterrSingh]

Two of the Gurdwaras I frequent have their kitchens inspected by the local authority on an annual basis. The findings of each inspection are posted on the noticeboard near the front doors.

[sikhni777]

Interesting. While we are very health conscious - an incident which occurred when we visited Takhat Damdama Sahib still keep ringing in my mind. We were sitting for langar and obviously there was a crowd of other people. The sewadaar who was serving the fulke just dropped one on the floor as we know it was not tiled and did not look freshly swept either. There were swarms of flies flying onto our food and we had to keep beating our hands to keep them off. I would have assumed they may have the fulka aside and offered it to the birds later on. But no - the sewadaar told the girl - Waheguru dhi marzi and placed the fulka into her plate. She accepted quietly and ate the fulka.

Obviously we should try to prepare langar and serve it in the most hygienic way possible. We belong to the advanced west.

Back then - in kenya there was a wedding. So the hotel guys were sharing the kitchen with us. There was some dirty water on the floor and the floor usually is quite filthy as all go into the langer with their shoes on. This guy was spreading the patisa on a huge plate spread on the floor. He was rolling it with a rolling pin. The pin slips from his hands and falls into the filthy water. You would have assumed - he would have some sense and go and wash it before using it again. No - he picks it up and lands it right on top of the patisa. That is what our wedding guests were going to be having the next day. That is what when it remains will be carried off and sold in the hotel.

Now you can understand why it is important to say Waheguru when having food. Only God knows what accidents happened when preparing it. What about the rats tail which was in the tinned tomatoes which my sis in law opened some years ago ?

True langar is the one which has been prepared with simran. Whoever eats it will become drunk with jap as well. Recently when I was reading what someone had written and this was the type of langar which was getting prepared by this particular sant ji. That is the true purpose of langar - to give us the taste of the name of the Lord which gets infused into the food and water being served. We used to believe in finishing off all the water served in langar as well as it absorbs all the power of the meditation that is going on all around.

[MisterrSingh]

^^^ That's all well and good, but if the aunty that prepares the prashadeh in my local gurughar doesn't wash and clean her hands after she's done a number 2, no amount of simran on the auntie's part is going to prevent people from falling ill, hence the need for the local authority inspection teams that visit restaurants also making their way to Gurdwara langar kitchens. It's common sense. It's NOT a sign of a lack of faith.

[sikhni777]

Well scientifically if the aunty (or uncle) did not wash their hands - for the parshadheh then - the fire would kill the germs - before they reach you.

No simran needed in this case.

If she is serving the parshadheh - yes then you better keep a germ detector and inspect their hands - coz you aint following them into the toilets to see what they did.

If they did not have sense of hand washing then the Guru would not have blessed them with the mat of preparing langar.

Some years ago I remember my mum telling me that the loosing party at some gurdwara called in the health inspectors because ladies were doing seva with nail varnish on.

[jkvlondon]

All langars in West have to pass hygiene inspection since we are serving general public ...also health and safety in Uk since that incident of the little boy falling into a dhal pateela during vaisakhi in East London (Goodmayes I think) a few years back .

I know people have questionable hygiene practices but they should be reminded that they are serving langar to Guru Panth i.e. Gurroop Sadh Sangat , so langar should of best standard, served in clean surroundings with the love we reserve for Guru ji , would you serve the dropped phulka to Guru Nanak Dev ji or Guru Gobind SIngh ji saying what nonsense you did? I know in langar making parshadey occasionally one may fall but the bibian usually keep them on the side and never put into the ones going forward to sangat ... That Guy was gross . There should not have been dirty water standing in the langar hall, would we seat Guru ji on an unmopped filthy jagga to eat langar ?

No introspection means these abuses of langar maryada get worse day by day : we need to call people out when we see it happen. I am not averse to getting boiling water and mopping the langar hall if a spillage has happened .

[MisterrSingh]

...also health and safety in Uk since that incident of the little boy falling into a dhal pateela during vaisakhi in East London (Goodmayes I think) a few years back .

What happened there? Is the kid okay?

[khalsaman1]

When everything is in God's hand why do we worry about such little things? If I'm going to get extremely ill from food, it's going to happen regardless of whether I ate some bad langar or not.

Also, the only people who should be complaining about this matter are those that keep Bibek rehat (only eat from food put together by an Amritdhari).

For those that don't follow Sikh rehat, who cares? Man does not hesitate to regularly consume alcohol or eat meat yet we're worried about some dirt being in our sabji?

We need to stop worrying about these little things.

[jkvlondon]

What happened there? Is the kid okay?

I offered my services but apparently the poor thing was visiting from out of town , he fell into the pateela which was placed on the floor , he suffered extreme scalding on his body and they made the cardinal mistake of not leaving his clothes on and cooling him with them on - they took his skin off with the clothes . So apart from thermal shock there was massive fluid loss - I imagine he was in hospital for a long time with 2nd 3rd degrees and then many years of grafts and operations . I found out after the event but could not get their details to actually help them properly. Basically it was a case of parents upstairs and just let him run around with no supervision ...

After that they made it a blanket rule no kid in the langar kitchens , such a shame because that's where I learnt how to do sewa , to make rotian, samosey etc ...

When everything is in God's hand why do we worry about such little things? If I'm going to get extremely ill from food, it's going to happen regardless of whether I ate some bad langar or not.

Also, the only people who should be complaining about this matter are those that keep Bibek rehat (only eat from food put together by an Amritdhari).

For those that don't follow Sikh rehat, who cares? Man does not hesitate to regularly consume alcohol or eat meat yet we're worried about some dirt being in our sabji?

We need to stop worrying about these little things.

India vich ALL langar is made by amritdhari people , sehajdhari do pandey sewa

[MisterrSingh]

I offered my services but apparently the poor thing was visiting from out of town , he fell into the pateela which was placed on the floor , he suffered extreme scalding on his body and they made the cardinal mistake of not leaving his clothes on and cooling him with them on - they took his skin off with the clothes . So apart from thermal shock there was massive fluid loss - I imagine he was in hospital for a long time with 2nd 3rd degrees and then many years of grafts and operations . I found out after the event but could not get their details to actually help them properly. Basically it was a case of parents upstairs and just let him run around with no supervision ...

After that they made it a blanket rule no kid in the langar kitchens , such a shame because that's where I learnt how to do sewa , to make rotian, samosey etc ...

My word, that's shocking. I thought maybe he'd have been fished out as soon as he fell in, but that's horrible. Is there a chance of his skin returning to normal the older he gets, or is that impossible? Kids shouldn't be messing around in langar kitchens. Some parents seem to relinquish all responsibility for their children when they're at the Gurdwara, as if nothing can go wrong.