Good hygiene’s in good taste
The plan to develop eight safe street food zones in Delhi is a boon
for food lovers and street food vendors alike. Delhi, like many other
cities in the country, can boast of a rich street food culture.
Representing an eclectic range of delectable dishes, street food
exemplifies the rich traditions of Indian cuisine that is affordable and
readily available. In fact, Indian street food is one of the many
attractions for foreign tourists visiting India. But street food outlets
and push carts have been often found wanting in hygiene standards. This
is precisely why creating safe street food zones to ensure minimum
standards is a good idea.
In this initiative, the National Association of Street Vendors of
India (Nasvi) will train vendors in the safe zones to follow basic
hygiene practices such as wearing aprons and gloves, and handling food
properly. Once the vendors pass the training, their outlets will be
eligible to receive a safety stamp from Nasvi. It’s in the interest of
street vendors themselves to obtain a safety certificate, as this would
automatically result in positive advertisement for their outlets and
draw in more customers.
Designated street food zones would also help regulate food-borne
diseases through focussed inspections. Further, these would enable
municipal bodies to provide better services to vendors such as clean
drinking water, sanitation etc. There are lessons here to be learnt from
Taiwan’s famous night markets. The latter helped put Taiwanese cuisine
on the world map, with thousands of tourists visiting the small East
Asian nation just to sample its food culture. Apart from delicious
dishes, Taiwan’s night markets also curb food adulteration and other
unscrupulous practices through collective responsibility. There’s no
reason why this model cannot be replicated here, with eight safe street
food zones soon rising to 80, 800, 8,000 and so on.
COUNTERVIEW
Stop harassing vendors
Sanjiv Shankaran
Delhi’s attempt to carve out ‘safe zones’ for street food needs to be
seen in the context of an ongoing attempt to enforce standards of
hygiene and sourcing on food served across all commercial establishments
in India. This attempt is misguided. The bone of contention is not that
there should be no standards, but a one-size-fits-all approach to
regulation is impractical. It is reminiscent of other well-intentioned
but ill-conceived regulations such as those concerning labour, which
ended up being counterproductive.
Estimates suggest there may be 10 million street food vendors in
urban India who cater to millions more. From a functional standpoint,
the most important aspect of street food is cost. It meets the needs of
consumers on a tight budget as capital costs for street food vendors are
low. Any attempt to regulate street food needs to consider trade-offs.
Enhanced standards of hygiene in the form of gloves and bottled water
would translate into an increase in price of food. This development, in
turn, would reduce access to inexpensive food for some consumers. The
trade-off here is between enhanced hygiene and access to food. When seen
in this context, ‘safe zones’ and regulatory directives on hygiene to
street food vendors rest on a weak foundation.
It is inaccurate to portray street food vendors as impervious to
change. Across urban India, some street food vendors have enhanced
hygiene standards in response to pressure from customers. In parts of
Delhi, it is common to come across street food vendors using gloves even
without a regulatory directive. Increasing public awareness and higher
incomes will usher in better standards. A premature move here will only
make street food vendors vulnerable to harassment at the hands of petty
bureaucracy and the food unaffordable for some consumers.
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