BIS releases a set of requirements on preparation and sale of street foods
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) which adopted the
Indian Standard draft relating to Street Food Vendors (SFV) has released
a set of basic requirements for the preparation and sale of street
foods on push cart platforms and make-shift arrangements in towns and
cities in the country.
For the first time in the
country, street food vendors are required to meet a set of sanitation
norms and regulations in order to make street food healthy for
consumption. The norms were finalised by the Food, Hygiene, Safety
Management and Other Systems Sectional Committee and approved by the
Food and Agriculture Division Council.
Recently a
survey conducted by a national agency revealed that 90 per cent of the
food supplied by roadside vendors was contaminated with food-borne
pathogens.
Indian standard norms suggest that the
vending carts shall normally be located away from environmentally
polluted areas and industrial activity which poses a serious threat of
contamination of food. It shall be away from rubbish, waste water,
toilet facilities, open drains and animals. Sale point surroundings
shall be kept clean and litter free. Working surfaces shall be hygienic,
impermeable, easy to clean and 60 to 70 per cent above ground. Cooking
utensils shall be easy to clean and disinfect, heat tolerant, corrosion
resistant and not capable of transferring substances to food in such
quantities as to present a health risk to consumers. Cooking, storage
and serving shall not be done in utensils of copper, cadmium, lead,
non-food grade plastic and other toxic materials. Utensils shall be
cleaned of debris, rinsed, scrubbed with detergent and washed under
running water after every operation. It shall not be wiped with aprons,
soiled clothes, unclean towels or hands. Bare hands for handling ready
to eat food shall not be used. Hands shall be washed before putting on
gloves. All food handlers shall not handle food with cuts in skin or
sores or skin infections. They shall be away from handling food if they
are suffering from diarrhoea or vomiting or infectious diseases. They
shall also refrain from smoking while working at the food point. Food
vending area should be periodically fumigated with approved chemical.
Protected water
Also protected water, meaning filtered or boiled water should be supplied to the customers.
Materiel Testing House(MTH) Laboratory director K. Srinivasa Varma told
The Hindu
that the ground reality with regard to following basic norms by the food
vendors are beyond description. Most of the street food vendors operate
in unhygienic conditions beside gutters with nauseating smell emanating
from them. Some operate close to urinal points which are prone to
infectious diseases.
‘Stopped eating’
Sunitha,
a regular visitor to street eating points, said she stopped eating
roadside junk food after she saw food handler scratch his hair and his
legs and preparing eatables without inhibitions with the same unclean
hands.
Vending carts shall normally be located away from polluted areas
Those suffering from infectious diseases should not handle food
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