Mumbai among 15 cities chosen by Centre to kick off national project.
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.
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