Coimbatore street vendors audited by food safety officials

Audit part of the ‘Project Clean Street Vendors’ initiated by FSSAI in March 2016

Small food business operators in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore district are being audited for the past one week by state food safety officials.

The audit is being done to spread awareness about sanitary and hygiene practices among the vendors. It is part of the “Project Clean Street Vendors” initiated by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in March 2016. The project was started to develop training and capacity building for street vendors and to ensure a proper regulatory system in order to stream line vendors under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

The audit is taking place during the night and an awareness camp is scheduled for February 24, 2018, in Coimbatore city to educate vendors about hygiene practices. Consumers are also being educated to eat or buy from registered and licensed vendors.

As part of the audit, officials are making sure that street vendors like panipuri stalls, food vans as well as local tea stalls do not add colouring agents to food. They have also advised them to use potable water, wear gloves, register and obtain licenses. The officials have tested tea being sold in the stalls for adulterants.

They have asked vendors to use banana leaves as packaging material instead of plastic. For tea, they have asked vendors to use glass cups to ensure that the beverage doesn’t get in contact with plastic as it is harmful says Vijayalalithambigai, designated officer of the Tamil Nadu food safety wing. She adds that the vendors are supposed to register by February 28, 2018. Till now, 18,231 vendors have registered and have obtained license under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.