CITY FOOD VENDORS GET REVAMP OF LED SCREENS, TRAININGS

 

All the new stalls are going to be identical, with a handwashing facility as well, besides the LED screens.

Under the clean street food campaign — launched by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 13 — vendors will not only be trained, but will also get a stall on wheels, which will consist of several new facilities along with attached LED screens.

This move has been made to promote hygienic and healthy food among people and to train sellers to serve properly. Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner of FDA Pune, said, "This initiative that started in Delhi was successful, so we subsequently made it a national campaign. We have trained 450 vendors in Pune so far and will be guiding more in the coming week." The training will mainly centre around maintaining FSSAI standards, food safety norms, street food hygiene, water safety and most importantly, procuring licenses and registrations. "All stalls will be identical," Kekare added.

Sanjay Shanke, general secretary of the Janiv Hawkers Union and Town Vending Committee, said, "There are 38,000 vendors in Pune. This is a welcome step, as there are plans of establishing many food malls and zones in the near future, so work is set to begin from April 1. We have demanded that after training, vendors be given spaces at malls, so that they don't have to book a spot on a road like they usually do. Besides, we also have suggested installing high-tech food carts, so that it looks advanced, as opposed to a regular cart that lacks space. The new one will have water and a hand-washing facility along with LED screens. The training was held at the Mahatma Phule Sabhagruha at Wanowrie last week and many more such sessions are planned next month."

"Customers eating at these stalls will be able to see themselves on the screen and approve or disapprove of the food being served. This will help promote good food and provide publicity to vendors, too. All sellers will have the same kind of stalls. The next training session is to be held in Pimpri-Chinchwad, scheduled for next week," Kekare said.

FDA chief of Maharashtra, Harshadeep Kamble, said, "This is a national FSSAI campaign aimed at hygienic and healthy food, so that bacterial or food-borne infections do not spread. It will also promote consistent practices of serving clean food."