FSSAI, NASVI to organise street food festival in Delhi from Dec 25

National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) and food regulator FSSAI will jointly organise national street food festival in the national capital during December 25-29.

The 11th National Street Food Festival will be organised at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium here and around 75,000 people are expected to visit the festival.

During the event, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will also organise its second edition of the 'National Eat Right Mela' to promote healthy foods.

"Through this mela, we want to give a unique and distinct identify to our local and street food," FSSAI CEO Pawan Kumar Agarwal told reporters here.

"We are also offering a platform to the packaged food industry to showcase innovation in terms of newer areas like reformulation of food products, healthier food variants as well as sustainable and enhanced packaging solutions," he added.

Agarwal said there will be a complete package for people -- delicious street food, entertainment and education -- in this festival.

The theme of this year's festival is 'healthier diets' where the idea is to focus various initiatives of FSSAI around healthy eating through gamification (in an interactive manner through games and quizzes).

Food Safety pavilion will focus on demonstration of rapid food testing kits/devices.

On December 26, Health minister Harsh Vardhan will launch the 'Network for Scientific Co-operation for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition' (NetSCoFAN), a network of research and academic institutions working in the area of food and nutrition.

Sangeeta Singh, Head of Programs, NASVI, said: "This festival, over the years, has helped mainstream various street vending communities. We expect a footfall of around 75,000 during the five day festival".

Arbind Singh, National Coordinator, NASVI, said about 130 street vendors would get the opportunity to showcase their regional cuisines to thousands of visitors from various walks of life.