Food safety norms for roadside eateries to come into force

CHENNAI: Taking up the cause of food policing, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has come out with a set of guidelines for roadside eateries and fast food shops in the country and sent it to the National Food Safety Authority.

If implemented, street food vendors will be forced to adopt better hygienic practices.

All mobile and fixed roadside eateries will come under the purview of guidelines under IS 2492, the hygiene standard for restaurants. Quality of raw materials for food preparation, transportation and storage of food items, locations of street food stalls, etc will be checked under the new guidelines. Currently, street food vendors do not adhere to any guidelines or standards for food safety. Many of them are situated near drains and dustbins. Even the cooking oil is procured from eateries which sell their used oil to roadside vendors. And the food is stocked in shabby conditions, putting at risk the health of consumers.

K Anbarasu, deputy director general, BIS southern region said hygiene in densely populated areas is still a challenge for health initiatives. "The new guidelines and storage rules for water, milk, tea or coffee powder, fruits, vegetables and the meat is expected to bring an important change in street food operations," he said.

"The kitchen utensils and cutting tools should be clean and disinfected. Personal hygiene of vendors will also be checked. Use of newspapers for packaging will be stopped," said a BIS official.

BIS officials said food inspectors from local bodies should enforce these guidelines mandatorily for thousands of such shops in the cities. However, senior officials in the Chennai Corporation said there is a huge shortage of manpower in the food safety and control department. "We are short of staff to even conduct inspections based on written complaints. Without appointing adequate officers, it will be difficult to enforce the new guidelines," said a senior official.

In Chennai, majority of the poor depend on street food as restaurants are beyond their reach. Sumesh Jha, a construction labourer who has been staying in Chennai for four years, says he gets a chicken biriyani for Rs 35 from a street vendor in Egmore. "When I get 350 for a day's work, how can I spend 100 or 150 for a biriyani from a restaurant?" he asked.