No more Gobi Manchurian in Goa? This town bans the popular dish, the reason will shock you

When in Goa, you can have the most delicious seafood dishes, but there is one thing you cannot have and that's Gobi Manchurian! Yes, that's right. You will not be able to find a vendor selling this Indian-Chinese delicacy. Goa’s Mapusa has banned the delicacy from stalls and feasts. Wondering why so? Read on to know!

Goa's Mapusa bans Gobi Manchurian

The Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC), late last month, unanimously banned Gobi Manchurian stalls in Shree Bodgeshwar Zatra in Mapusa. They cited hygiene issues as the main cause. The concern stems from poor hygiene, the use of artificial colors, and the inclusion of powdered laundry detergent and questionable sauces.

A senior food safety officer (FSO) at the FDA said that sellers had been fined by the authorities for using low quality. “They keep the quality sauce on display but use substandard ones for the preparation of gobi manchurian. They use some kind of powder in the flour and cornstarch in the batter so that after deep frying, the cauliflower florets remain crispy for a long time,” the FDA officer told TOI.

According to the officer, this powder is a sort of reetha, used in washing clothes.

The Mapusa Municipal Council chairperson Priya Mishal further spoke about the ban and said, “The councillors opined that such vendors operate in unhygienic conditions and use synthetic colours for making gobi Manchurian and that is what has prompted us to ban the sale of this dish.”

Previously in 2022, the FDA had raided food stalls in Ponda, for unhygienic health conditions.

For the uninitiated, Gobi Manchurian is an Indian Chinese dish which originated in India. Manchurian is said to have been invented in 1975 by Nelson Wang, a cook at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai

Also watch: Yuck or yum? Twitter user shares photo of 'Ferrero Rocher Manchurian'