McDonald effect? On Mumbai streets, vada pavs to be served with gloves & chef's hat on

 



 

Mumbai: Vendors wearing gloves while serving up plates of pani puri or donning a chef’s hat while stirring spicy bhel may soon be a regular sighting to Mumbai’s street food culture.. 

Street food is set to become certifiably safer with the central government kicking off their Safe Street Food project across fifteen cities in India including Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Kolkata, Patna, Lucknow, Varanasi, Dehradun, Bhubaneshwar, Agartala, Jammu, Trivandrum and Chennai. The project will take off in November this year. 

Food Safety and Standard Authority of India’s (FSSAI) that launched the Safe Street Food project plans to use officials from the state Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to narrow down food stalls at Juhu and Girgaon Chowpatty as a part of the pilot project. 

Prior to the implementation, a detailed project report has been sought by FSSAI from all states. FDA officials are currently seeking information on 80 food stalls in Juhu and 28 stall in Girgaon about their working practices. 

"We are closely studying the cooks to see if they maintain hygiene while cooking. We are also observing how they store food and dispose garbage," said Kamlesh Sankhe, joint commissioner (food), FDA. 

Apart from training the street vendors on handling preparation, storage and presentation of food, the central government has instructed the state and BMC to develop an infrastructure at street food hotspots to make them more tourist-friendly. 

"We have repeatedly requested the civic and state authorities to provide sheds as protection from the rain and winds. Toilet facilities, waste disposal and drainage facilities should be provided as well," said Atul Gupta, treasurer, Girgaon Bhelpuri Khadya Peey Vikreta Industrial Products Co-operative Society Limited.