Lonavala (Pune), September 1
The first-ever audit of street food by India’s apex food regulator has shown that it is easy to get nutrition worth a full meal from a street food serving worth just Rs 20. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recently conducted a survey in Kolkata to determine the nutritious content of street food. It found that a street food meal of Rs 20 yielded around 1,000 calories to a consumer.
“An adult requires around 1,800 to 2,000 calories every day while the energy from one street food meal has been found to be around 1,000 calories. Street food has been found to be extremely nutritious. The only concern is about hygiene on which we are working with state governments,” Pradip Chakravarty, Director, Information, Education and Communications, FSSAI told The Tribune in an interview on the sidelines of the three-day third National Health Writers and Editors Convention organised by the HEAL Foundation.
The pilot project conducted in collaboration with the All-India Institute of Public Hygiene, Kolkata, found that Kolkata city alone has around 1.2 lakh street food vendors, each catering to 65 customers a day and employing on an average 2.5 personnel per vending business.
If the 1.25 lakh vendors per city mark is taken as a benchmark, there would be around 7.5 crore vendors across all 600 districts of India providing important nutritional component to all kinds of customers.
The study concluded that all street food items being served in Kolkata were “extremely nutritious” and ranged from South India delicacies to chapattis, paranthas, pani puri and pulao. The nutritious value of collected samples was scientifically tested in laboratories.
“The assessment included the following components - nutritive, chemical, physical, microbiological and hazard analysis. The food items passed the nutrition test as one serving was found yielding around 1,000 calories. We found Kolkata was serving around 200 street food varieties. However, the hygiene aspect was a worry as vendors were found using the same water for cooking and cleaning often for around three days. The use of bare hands for preparation was also common. Food handling practices were very poor mainly because the vendors have no training. Nor do they have proper vending carts,” Chakravarty said.
The FSSAI and the Public Hygiene Institute have now developed a smart design of a street food vending machine. The machines are, however, yet to be marketed across India as the level of acceptance among state governments is low. Recently, Gujarat became the first state to order the new design machine for its street food vendors in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
“We hope more states will wake up to this problem considering street foods are integral to our culture and are very high on nutrition. Also, they cost very little. We need to empower our vendors with the best machines so that they can ensure health and hygiene of their customers,” Chakravarty said.
The first-ever audit of street food by India’s apex food regulator has shown that it is easy to get nutrition worth a full meal from a street food serving worth just Rs 20. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recently conducted a survey in Kolkata to determine the nutritious content of street food. It found that a street food meal of Rs 20 yielded around 1,000 calories to a consumer.
“An adult requires around 1,800 to 2,000 calories every day while the energy from one street food meal has been found to be around 1,000 calories. Street food has been found to be extremely nutritious. The only concern is about hygiene on which we are working with state governments,” Pradip Chakravarty, Director, Information, Education and Communications, FSSAI told The Tribune in an interview on the sidelines of the three-day third National Health Writers and Editors Convention organised by the HEAL Foundation.
The pilot project conducted in collaboration with the All-India Institute of Public Hygiene, Kolkata, found that Kolkata city alone has around 1.2 lakh street food vendors, each catering to 65 customers a day and employing on an average 2.5 personnel per vending business.
If the 1.25 lakh vendors per city mark is taken as a benchmark, there would be around 7.5 crore vendors across all 600 districts of India providing important nutritional component to all kinds of customers.
The study concluded that all street food items being served in Kolkata were “extremely nutritious” and ranged from South India delicacies to chapattis, paranthas, pani puri and pulao. The nutritious value of collected samples was scientifically tested in laboratories.
“The assessment included the following components - nutritive, chemical, physical, microbiological and hazard analysis. The food items passed the nutrition test as one serving was found yielding around 1,000 calories. We found Kolkata was serving around 200 street food varieties. However, the hygiene aspect was a worry as vendors were found using the same water for cooking and cleaning often for around three days. The use of bare hands for preparation was also common. Food handling practices were very poor mainly because the vendors have no training. Nor do they have proper vending carts,” Chakravarty said.
The FSSAI and the Public Hygiene Institute have now developed a smart design of a street food vending machine. The machines are, however, yet to be marketed across India as the level of acceptance among state governments is low. Recently, Gujarat became the first state to order the new design machine for its street food vendors in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
“We hope more states will wake up to this problem considering street foods are integral to our culture and are very high on nutrition. Also, they cost very little. We need to empower our vendors with the best machines so that they can ensure health and hygiene of their customers,” Chakravarty said.
THE AUDIT
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) conducted an audit of street food in Kolkata
Street food items included in the survey ranged from South India delicacies to chapattis, paranthas, pani puri and pulao
The nutritious value of collected samples was tested in laboratories
The food items passed the nutrition test, but the hygiene aspect remained a worry
Street food items included in the survey ranged from South India delicacies to chapattis, paranthas, pani puri and pulao
The nutritious value of collected samples was tested in laboratories
The food items passed the nutrition test, but the hygiene aspect remained a worry
No comments:
Post a Comment