Kolhapur: Citizens may soon have little to fear while digging into their favourite street snacks with cleanliness and hygiene training on the cards for over 1,000 street vendors.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will team up with students from the department of food science and technology of the Shivaji University, Kolhapur (SUK), to train more than 1,000 street side food vendors in the city about importance of the cleanliness and hygiene.
S M Deshmukh, assistant commissioner, city unit of FDA, said there is a dire need of training and assistance for streetside food vendors to let them know about the importance of food hygiene, cleanliness, how it should be stored and how they can keep the food fresh. He added that it will help to improve food safety.
Deshmukh said the training will begin from June 15 and the department will start with a survey of such vendors. It is likely that the number of street vendors may be more than 1,000.
Another official from the department said the number of street food vendors has increased in the recent years and most of them are at public places like Rankala lake, movie theatres, the RTO office, and bazaar areas.
"There is always concern about the cleanliness and possibility of related illnesses where streetside food is concerned. All vendors need to know about the scientific methods of food preparation, its storage, and how small things like wearing gloves while serving food and keeping food at the right temperature can help greatly," said the official.
An official from the university department said the FDA initiative an innovative one as students will be able to interact with vendors and tell them about food safety. He added that the students are well-suited for this initiative since they study various aspects of food and food precessing such as preservation, chemistry, quality and others.
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