Street food is safe food

On World Health Day it’s time we took stock of the safety of street food.

The world today is concerned about the ill effects of unsafe food. This growing concern has been aptly highlighted by the World Health Organization (WHO). It has declared “Food Safety; from farm to plate, make food safe” as the theme for this year’s World Health Day on April 7. This theme is expected to highlight and demonstrate the importance of food safety; especially along the whole length of the food chain. Highlighting the stress points along the food chain is important given that we live in a globalized world where any food item goes through a long production cycle which includes: growing the food product, transporting it and eventually preparing it for consumption. According to the WHO’s fact sheet, over 200 diseases are caused by unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, chemical substances. 

What’s worse as many as 20 lakh deaths are estimated to occur annually from contaminated food or drinking water? In India, where despite the presence of the National Food Security Act, a large number of people find it difficult to manage two square meals a day, the issue of food safety automatically takes a backseat. We often read or hear about food poisoning out breaks in different parts of the country but this news is not given much importance. Food poisoning, as experts point out, is attributable to consumption of unsafe food or contaminated water. One, therefore, can easily understand the strain on human capital and financial resources which is caused due to unsafe food.

Food hawkers/street food vendors are one of the important but often overlooked parts of the long food chain. Therefore, any move to ensure food safety is not likely to yield significant gains unless the role played by food hawkers in providing economical food options to the society is recognised; and their needs appreciated. Although no clear and verifiable statistics are available, some estimates available on the internet suggest that in India, there are more than one crore street food vendors. 

An office bearer of the National Hawker Federation said that the figure perhaps does not take into account those food hawkers who ply their trade in various trains which runs throughout the length and breadth of the country. He also added that the average daily turnover of the food vendors of the country would be approximately in the range of Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 crore. These whopping figures clearly indicate that this informal and unorganised industry can play an important role, if its potentials are properly assessed and tapped.

In a developing society like ours, many a time due to financial reasons, both husband and wife take up jobs. This demographic trend is prevalent across the middle class, lower middle class and poor families. This trend maybe applicable, to some extent, to a miniscule percentage of upper middle class families too. After going through the daily grind, both husband and wife are too exhausted and tired to cook, so they search for viable food alternatives. Street food vendors/ hawkers offer such families a cost effective and tasty alternative. All big cities in India are witness to a big migratory workforce pouring in and out of them every day. A majority of this workforce in any city, be it Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore or Pune is fed by street food vendors during their lunch or tea breaks. 

A report on street foods in Calcutta by I. Chakravarty of All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health and Colette Canet of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) had recognised that by spending approximately Rs 5, one could get wholesome street food that provided almost 1000 Calories. No restaurant or cheap eatery could afford to provide such an inexpensive and nutritious meal. Street foods across the country present before us a wide array of local cuisine which is inextricably linked to the culture and food habits of the area where they are sold. With increasing inter-state workforce migration happening, one can easily find the delicacies of different parts of the country in one’s area. You get stuffed paranthas of North India, in Kolkata and kathi rolls of Kolkata in Delhi. The momos of Darjeeling and Sikkim are relished on the footpaths of Delhi NCR. In a street food festival organized by the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), a food vendor from Punjab was found selling Pav Bhaji. Isn’t this proof of the remarkable cultural osmosis of different local cuisines in India?

Recognising the potential of street food as an important tourism offering, many countries across the world are planning to develop dedicated food streets to showcase their culinary variety to the world. In India, we already have these food streets. Unfortunately they have just sprung up haphazardly and have not been developed in an integrated and planned manner. It is astonishing that in a country, which is home to a remarkable variety of street cuisine, none of our cities figure in the list of top 10 Asian street food cities drawn up by the reputed news organisation CNN.

The surroundings in which India’s street food vendors ply their trade is so pathetic that many Indians would not like to have food from them, let alone foreign tourists. There are several reasons for such a pathetic work environment surrounding the street food vendors/food hawkers in the country. Lack of awareness and absence of motivation amongst majority of the street food vendors are two basic reasons why they probably end up compromising on hygiene in some cases. Using disposable gloves, aprons, etc. are considered avoidable overhead expenses. Trading off hygiene issues to keep the product cost low and competitive is another reason that is responsible for the insipid environment around street food vendors in the country.

Interaction with some of the food vendors of Russel Street in Kolkata revealed that they would welcome any training program focused on producing and serving safe food to their customers. They pointed out that absence of supply of potable water, proper waste disposal systems and civic amenities for vendors are major impediments towards ensuring food safety by street food vendors.

It’s a heartening sign that food vendors are voluntarily interested in getting trained. There are few other encouraging stories too. The Ministry of Tourism is already working with the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) and imparting training to the latter’s members. Food safety and Standards authority of India (FSSAI) is also playing its role inter-alia by way of carrying out publicity campaigns on safer foods. Nonetheless, much is still left to be done.

The challenge of training all food vendors on universal coverage basis still needs to be addressed. Providing public amenities, clean and safe drinking water, appropriate waste management system etc. to street food vendors through a coordinated approach would take the environment around our street vended foods to a level where it can blend well with the idea of Swachh Bharat.

A hygienic street food vending environment has the potential to immensely contribute towards our social infrastructure by way of reducing the burden of health care cost attributable to unsafe street vended foods and also by providing cost effective food fiesta to the citizens as well as discerning tourists. The potential of this informal sector in generating employment is established by various studies. These together have the capability of being part of those founding pillars on which India’s smart cities would rest. All concerned stakeholders of the street vended foods in India must follow the spirit of the theme of this year’s world health day and ensure that all vendors/hawkers of the country are trained; so that they are able to appreciate the concerns of consumers who would like to purchase safe food and not a plateful of diseases. 

The local authorities and Tourism Boards can also pitch in. Corporate houses or Public Sector Units may be exhorted to help the cause as well. They may fund state of the art food carts, waste disposal bins, garden umbrellas which will help in improving the quality levels of street food across the country. An institutional mechanism is needed to be put in place to identify and train the street food vendors falling outside the NASVI banner to help them upskill and upscale. To promote healthy competition, concerned agencies may rank the food vendors and issue certificates to that effect, so that a sense of pride is felt by a food vendor while a sense of safety is instilled in the minds of a consumer.

Above all, the consumers need to be made aware of the dangers of consuming unsafe food and they need to be educated to demand an environment where the street vended foods are safe. Besides the traditional media, consumers may be engaged through social media for awareness campaigns. Studies have established that adopting hygienic practices by street food vendors actually enhanced their profits. However, attitudinal indifference hampers the optimal development of this informal industry with immense potential.