New safety standards for street food vendors important step: President

New Delhi, Dec 12: 

President Pranab Mukherjee today said while new safety standards for street food is an important step, small vendors should not find these guidelines “intimidating” as food businesses are mainly run by small and cottage scale units.

Food and Consumer Affairs Minister K.V Thomas today released safety standards to ensure hygienic conditions for street food vendors. He presented the first copy of these standards to the President.

Addressing a conference on food safety issues, Mukherjee said, “The Indian standard on basic requirements for street food vendors is an important step – especially in the context of the significant growth in the street food sector.”

“It has important economic and nutritional implications for our urban populations as street foods are an accessible and affordable option for a sizable percentage of our working population,” he said.

Mukherjee, however, cautioned that since substantial majority of food businesses are small and cottage scale units, “they should not be intimidated by the standards that are set for them or find their implementation to be too complex.”

Instead, he suggested, awareness should be created among these street food vendors that improving safety would increase their profitability. Apart from that, there must also be a channel for addressing their genuine problems.

Stressing that food safety standards are essential both for manufacturers and consumers, he said the importance of consumer education in the prevention of food-borne illness is another universal imperative.

On new risks due to globalisation in food trade, Mukherjee said faster transboundary transfer of micro- biological and chemical hazards present a new set of challenges to food safety.

“These potential risks require robust preventive and curative capacities to be put in place to safeguard health of our population,” he observed.

‘Globalisation is a major boost to food trade’

President Pranab Mukherjee inaugrated the national seminar on Food Safety. He elaborated on how a global economy has caused a paradigm shift in consumption patterns
The challenge of meeting the ever growing food requirement of our population calls for major investments and innovation in our agriculture, agri-business and food processing sectors,” said the President of India at the inaugral function of  the . While upgradation of suitable technology is essential, safe farming practices, modern breeding techniques should go hand in hand with food related research, duly concentrating on how food safety should be regulated under Indian climatic and other relevant physical and cultural conditions. The Bureau of Indian Standards has an increasingly important role in this effort, he said.
The, President of India, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the national seminar on Food Safety — Role of Standard organised by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, the President said that globalisation of the world economy has given a significant boost to food trade and resulted in a paradigm shift in food consumption patterns, production methods and processing technologies. But at the same time, there is a new risk of faster trans-boundary transfer of microbiological and chemical hazards, he said. He stated that this presents a new set of challenges to food safety and these potential risks require robust preventive and curative capacities to be put in place to safeguard the health of our population.
The President also received the first copy of book Indian Standard Street Food Vendors — Food Safety Requirements on the occasion from Prof KV Thomas, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
Prof KV Thomas in his presidential address said Food Safety remains a serious concern, particularly since consumer interest in ‘fresh’ food that is food without preservatives is growing. Also, there is a craze among children and young generation towards fast food and food from roadside eateries, where there is every possibility of contamination and less attention on hygienic aspect. Food Safety is not an alternative; it is non-negotiable as it may endanger life. Standards promote public health by reducing the risk of food borne illness. They protect consumers from unsanitary, unwholesome, mislabelled or adulterated food; and provide a sound regulatory foundation for domestic and international trade in food. These standards should be sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of changing technology. At the same time, they should assure real and meaningful safety benefits rather than merely perceived benefits.
Pankaj Agrawala, Secretary (Consumer Affairs), Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in his welcome address said that foodborne diseases are increasingly being perceived as a widespread and growing threat to health, both in developed and developing countries. Since, every person eats food, every person is at risk of foodborne diseases. However, infants, young children and elderly are particularly at risk. As such, food safety is an issue concerned directly with the human health and human survival and food safety standards can lead the country forward in our efforts to tackle this issue.

Govt releases guidelines for street vendors
The government on Wednesday released guidelines of the Bureau of Standards (BIS) for street food vendors that seek to provide minimal check points for ensuring safety in terms of hygiene and quality of food offered by them.

“These standards will focus on providing minimal check points for ensuring safety of street foods by assuring food security for a large number of rural, urban and migrant populations,” Food Minister K V Thomas said, after releasing the BIS recommendations at a national seminar on food safety.

Addressing the seminar, President Pranab Mukherjee said food safety ensuring clean and nutrition food should be a “key priority” of the government policies as it was vital for physical and mental health of people. Noting that these businesses were mainly run by small and cottage scale units in the country, the President, however, cautioned that small vendors should not find the BIS guidelines “intimidating” and “complex” for their implementation. He suggested awareness should be created among street food vendors about the fact that improvement in food safety will increase their profitability.

Mukherjee noted that the country has made significant strides over the past decades in food production and globalisation of the world economy has given a significant boost to the food trade. “But at the same time, it has created a new set of challenges to food safety,” he said.