Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) will begin registering Vesak dansal stalls from Monday, May 4, with the registration drive running through Medical Officer of Health (MOH) offices islandwide, the Public Health Inspectors’ Association told Newswire on May 2. The May 4 launch follows the broader registration framework PHIs opened in late April ahead of both Vesak and Poson Poya.
Chamil Muthukuda, General Secretary of the PHI Association, said organisers must inform their local Public Health Inspector before setting up a Dansal, and provide details of the venue and the food or beverages they intend to serve. The notification gives PHIs the chance to advise on hygiene standards and to schedule a check-up before the event opens to the public.
K.P. Boralessa, President of the Public Health Inspectors’ Union (PHIU), said the union is running parallel awareness programmes for Dansal organisers and warned that legal action will be taken against unregistered or unsafe stalls. He added that on the eve of each event, PHIs will inspect waste-disposal arrangements, drinking-water and cooking-water quality, food-handling equipment, and the personal hygiene of food handlers, and that ingredients used in Dansal preparation must meet basic health standards.
Dansals — typically serving rice, kiribath, herbal porridge, ice cream or cool drinks free of charge — are a centrepiece of Vesak and Poson observances and draw very large crowds in Colombo, Kandy and along Buddhist pilgrimage routes. Improperly prepared mass-catered food has caused localised gastroenteritis outbreaks during past festivals, which the PHIU said the registration scheme is intended to prevent.
Vesak Poya falls on May 31, 2026 — gazetted as a special public holiday — and Poson follows in June. Some 1,382 dansal events were held islandwide for the May 1 Poya, the PHI Association said, with registration procedures already carried out for those stalls. The drive runs alongside routine festival-period restrictions on liquor sales.
