Concerns of street food vendors

Garima Arora, Dec 08, 2016, DHNS
Food festival The fourth edition of the street food festival at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (JLN Stadium) will soon to hit the grounds, and the festival this year is going to be bigger and better.
More than 300 regional cuisines from 25 states will be a part of the festival and there is nothing in the street food genre that has been “left out”.
“We wanted to highlight the concerns and issues of street food vendors. So instead of holding a conference or a seminar, we thought of organising a food festival and through that, attract policy makers so that they give these vendors the required space for setting up their stalls,” Arbind Singh, national coordinator, National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), tells Metrolife.
The festival, says Singh, has been taking place since the past nine years. Earlier, it was held at the Constitution Club of India, then at JLN Stadium and is now being implemented to be held in Goa.
Along with an extensive array of regional cuisines from across the country, the
festival will also include other informative events about street food and street food vendors, along with magic shows, performances by bands like Indian Ocean and meeting with celebrity chefs Sanjeev Kapoor and Kunal Kapur.
“The purpose of the festival is to bring street food vendors in the mainstream food scene so that they get their deserved space in the cities and respect by people,” adds Singh.
This year, the festival is organised by NASVI and Food Safety and Standards authority of India (FSSAI), which according to Singh is a “great achievement” for the member-based organisation (NASVI) and also “raises the bar of the festival”.
The organisation has around 6,52,000 members across India and these members work on the rights of these vendors, try to get zones for them.
“At the festival, we train vendors who are beginners or are not very skilled. We train them about how to take care of hygiene and sell in a way to attract more customers. When they receive good response from people, they get motivated to do better.
Most of these vendors go back with a changed mindset about street food and their livelihood through it,” says Singh adding that the festival also helps them learn skills of entrepreneurship and become role models for other vendors.
While hygiene is one of the main concerns why many are sceptical about street food, Singh says that all these vendors will arrive a day before the festival kicks off and will be trained for taking care of the same.
Additionally, every stall will be assigned one person each, who will be taking care of the cleanliness and hygienic conditions.
However, organising a festival in a makeshift place is one of the biggest challenges for organisers, reports Singh.
“In a makeshift place, everything from the setting up of the stalls to the stages for entertainment have to be done from the scratch. The festival is attended by people from all across country and serving them good and hygienic food is not easy.”
“But it's all worth the effort in the end because many of these vendors are able to get more visibility. The festival exposes their conditions and gives them more confidence about their livelihood. They all return with the motivation of getting better business,” says Singh.
The National Street Food Festival 2016 will be held from December 23 to December 25, at JLN stadium, from 12 noon to 10 pm.

Adani slammed for low quality edible oil sale

 

NAGPUR: Members from the treasury benches and Opposition took Adani Wilmer Ltd to task for making false claims on the packets of the blended vegetable oil sold by the company under brand name of Fortune Vivo. They demanded registering of FIR against the company and stringent action for misleading the consumers.
The matter was raised in question hour on Wednesday by ruling party members Sharad Sonawane, Sanjay Savkare and Tarasingh. They wanted to know what action was taken by the government against the oil manufacturer. A food and drugs administration (FDA) raid was conducted on the company's godown located at Ajivali in Panvel taluka of Raigad district in October. The angry members wanted strong action against the company as the said oil packets carried very unrealistic claims about the oil's qualities.
Responding to the volley of questions, minister of state for FDA, Madan Yearwar admitted that the raid was carried out and oil stocks worth over Rs94 lakh were seized. Later, from the lab reports it was established that the refined rice bran oil had acid value above the prescribed standards and that Vivo brand oil packets carried about claims that were misleading. 

Senior member Eknath Khadse demanded that a FIR be filed and the company be charged with criminal complicity. Ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan raised some of the claims regarding the oil's ability to fight diabetes and heart ailments and wondered if the company was selling edible oil or medicine. Vijay Wadettiwar and Shashikant Shinde also sought stringent action against the oil manufacturer.
Yerawar informed the house that that notices under section 24 of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 were issued and necessary legal action would be taken against Adani company for selling substandard edible oil and misleading quality claims.

KFC, 2 other firms fined Rs 30K for wrong branding in Indore

The Indore city administration on Wednesday slapped a fine of Rs 30,000 on Yum Foods, the owners of popular fast food chain KFC, and two other companies for using bread with wrong nutritive information on the product.
City additional district magistrate Rakhi Sahay imposed the fine, saying that the company violated norms of the Food Safety and Standards Act-2006.
On May 23, 2015, the food safety team raided the KFC outlet in the city and collected samples and sent it for testing to a laboratory in Bhopal.
The result of the tests was submitted to the ADM, who took the decision to fine the outlet on Tuesday, said food safety officer Rajesh Jaiswal.
“There were certain irregularities of misbranding found on the packaging, including the nutritive value, calorie count, and ingredients were found to be different for what was mentioned on the packet,” he said.
A case was filed against the Yum Foods, owners of the KFC fast food chain, Baked Best food limited– a Maharashtra-based bread manufacturer and Radha Krishna Foodland Private Limited, distributor of the bread.
“Four people were made a party by the department, as it was decided that the blame cannot be completely put on one company,” said Jaiswal.
A case was also registered against the representatives of the bread distribution firm Sandeep Palay and manufacturer Ram Rajivan Verma, he said.
The ADM said that people who have been fined will have to pay the fine within a month’s time.

FSSAI decides to ban use of newspapers for packing food

FSSAI asked commissioners of food safety of all states and Union territories to take necessary steps to restrict the use of newspapers for packing and storing of food items
 

FSSAI issued an advisory saying it has decided to ban the use of newspapers for wrapping and packing of food items, a common practice by small corner shops and street vendors.
New Delhi: Having exercised its will over packaged food companies, the food regulator is now set to control kirana stores and street vendors to enhance food safety.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Wednesday issued an advisory saying it has decided to ban the use of newspapers for wrapping and packing of food items, a common practice by small corner shops and street vendors.
In its advisory, FSSAI asked commissioners of food safety of all states and Union territories to take necessary steps to restrict the use of newspapers for packing, serving and storing of food items as the newspaper ink can contaminate food items leading to serious health concerns.
“Older people, teenagers, children and people with compromised vital organs and immune systems are at a greater risk of acquiring cancer-related health complications, if they are exposed to food packed in such materials,” FSSAI noted in its advisory.
According to estimates by the Union housing ministry, in 2014 there were 10 million street vendors, mostly in cities. Consulting firm Boston Consulting Group estimated that there were around 12 million kirana stores in 2014-15.
“Newspapers should not be used to wrap, cover and serve food or to absorb excess oil from fried food. There is an urgent need to discourage the use of newspaper as food packaging material by creating awareness among businesses, especially, unorganized food business operators and consumers, on its harmful effects. Suitable steps need to be taken to restrict and control the use of newspapers for packing food material,” the FSSAI advisory added.
The food safety regulator, however, is yet to declare imposition of penalty for non-compliance. An official at FSSAI did not want to speak on the financial implications related to the implementation of the decision on ground.
Printing ink, usually used for printing newspapers, may contain bioactive materials, harmful colours, pigments, binders, additives, preservatives, chemical contaminants and even pathogenic microorganisms that may pose potential risk to human health, according to the FSSAI advisory. “Newspapers and even paper or cardboard boxes made of recycled paper may be contaminated with metallic contaminants, mineral oils and harmful chemicals like phthalates which can cause digestive problems and also lead to severe toxicity,” it added.
Wrapping food in newspapers is an unhealthy practice and the consumption of such food is injurious to health, even if the food has been cooked hygienically. “Indians are being slowly poisoned due to newspapers being widely used as food packaging material by small hotels, vendors and also in homes in lieu of absorbent paper,” the regulator said.
This is the first time in recent years FSSAI is bringing a new rule relating to packaging of food items. So far, the regulator focused on setting standards for packaged food.
The Indian government has been trying to ban use of plastic bags for storage and transport of goods. The government had in October 2012 issued a notification declaring a blanket ban on use of plastic bags. But it has not been implemented as manufacturers of plastic bags moved the Delhi High Court against the order almost immediately, and the court is yet to rule on the issue.