'Street vendors need basic training on food safety'

Meghalaya Health & Family Welfare Minister, AL Hek has stressed the need for street vendors in Meghalaya to undergo training on food safety and hygiene.

“It is the right of every customer to have access to safe and hygienic food,” Hek said while addressing a one – day training programme for Street Food Vendors at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Indian Culture, Shillong on Tuesday.

Hek said that the vendors need to provide not only clean utensils and hygienic food, but also a positive attitude and mindset also needs to be incorporated by them in their day to day business.

Stressing on the popularity of street food around the world, Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya, Health & Family Welfare department, Pravin Bakshi said that the quality of food served attracts the customers to buy from the vendors. In this regard, he said that as the State is one of the favourite tourist destinations, it comes as a major boost for the vendors to grow their business and serve the best and hygienic food to the tourists.

During the programme which was organized by the Commissionerate of Food Safety, Meghalaya in collaboration with Nestle India Limited and National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), the Health Minister unveiled the Hygienic Kit and also distributed Certificates and Hygienic Kits to Street Food Vendors.

It may be noted here that ‘Project Serve Safe Food’ was launched in 2016 and contributes to enhancing the livelihoods of street food vendors by providing training on food safety and hygienic awareness. Since its inception, over 14,000 street food vendors have received training across 12 States through this programme. The project focuses on educating the street food vendors by training them on subjects such as health, hygiene, safe food handling, waste disposal and entrepreneurship. These trainings enable the street food vendors to undertake adequate precautions such as usage of disposable gloves, cart and personal hygiene that prevent the spread of food borne diseases.

Expanding ‘Project Serve Safe Food’ across India, Nestle India Limited in collaboration with the Commissionerate of Food Safety, Meghalaya and NASVI launched the initiative in Meghalaya to train 500 street food vendors. Apart from Shillong, the training will also be conducted at Sohra and Tura in September and November.