Sanitize drive to ensure safe street food

BHUBANESWAR: In a step to make street food safer and healthier in the state capital, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has launched a drive to distribute polythene hand gloves, caps and masks to street food vendors across the city. 

The civic body's move has come at a time when water-borne diseases such as jaundice is spreading in several parts of the state. Most of the food kiosks selling local food such as dahi vada and aloo dum, gupchup, chat, ghuguni and other fast food are not maintaining proper hygiene during preparation and serving of food. 

Led by city mayor Anant Narayan Jena, the civic body started the drive from Unit-II market where there is a cluster of eatery stalls on both sides of the road. To begin with, the civic body has procured the sanitized gloves and provided them to selected shops. However, subsequently, the food stalls will have to buy the gloves. 

The mayor said distributing the gloves was part of an awareness drive after which a squad would be formed to monitor whether the food stalls are following the safety norms. 

"If the eatery staff members are found to be not wearing the gloves, a fine will be imposed on them. The squad, which will consist of officials of the city health office, will also ask the eateries to stop selling food," said the mayor. He added that the squad would also ensure that the food stalls used purified water to prepare the food. 

According to All Odisha Roadside Vendors' Association (AORVA) president Pratap Sahu the state capital has 1200 gupchup stalls, 700 fast food stations and nearly 1,100 dahi vada and aloo dum stalls. 

"At present, all the stalls use water supplied by the public health and engineering department (PHED) in making the food. Some vendors also pump tube well water and use that for making chat. Apart from asking the vendors to use sanitized hand gloves, the civic body should provide safe water at certain points so as to facilitate them to use the water exclusively for preparing food," Sahu told TOI. He added that food prepared by the eateries should be sent for tests periodically. 

Medicine specialist K S Kumar said that bacteria such as coliform, Ecoli, salmonella, shigella, and staphylococcus aureus that are found in food items which can cause jaundice, urinary tract infections, diarrhoea and typhoid. 

"Intestinal and liver complications are found in people who consume unsafe food. If the infection remains undetected, it may lead to serious complications," said Kumar. 

Official sources said the civic body was also planning to train the street vendors on how to prepare food following the safety norms. 

"We will try to train some selected vendors about food preparation and safe ways of handling them while serving," said an officer of the city health office.