FSSAI scaling up training programmes for street vendors across country: CEO

Food regulator FSSAI is scaling up training programmes for street vendors across the country to provide safe food to people, its CEO G Kamala Vardhana Rao said.

A meeting was held in Mumbai under the chairmanship of Bhushan Varsha Ashok Gagrani, Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), to make a strategy for ensuring safer street food.

The meeting, attended by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) CEO and other senior officials, focused on elevating Mumbai's street food to global safety and hygiene standards by exploring the development of Healthy and Hygienic Food Streets (HHFS) in the city, according to a statement issued by the regulator on Friday.

Representatives from Thane, Nagpur, Nasik, and Pune Municipal Corporations, also attended the meeting.

In the meeting, the issue of ensuring safe, healthy and sustainable food was discussed for the food being sold by street food vendors.

"Just as the theme of Har Ghar Tiranga, orange colour shall ensure safety, white shall ensure healthy and green shall ensure sustainable food," the statement said.

According to the statement, Gagrani said that Mumbai is renowned for its vibrant and diverse street food culture, which attracts both locals and tourists.

He said that stringent training of street food vendors would ensure wide-scale availability of safe street food in the city, making it even more popular.

Rao said FSSAI's Food Safety Training and Certification (FoSTaC) programme equips food handlers with the knowledge of the latest food safety and hygiene practices.

He said the "FSSAI is significantly scaling up training programmes across the country, which would also see a large increase in the number of trained street food vendors in Mumbai".

KH Govindraj, Principal Secretary, Urban Development Department and Pritee Chaudhary, Regional Director, FSSAI West Region also attended the crucial meeting held on August 13, 2024, to discuss strategies to strengthen food safety measures in the city.