Pune: Industry experts have said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s enforcement action against restaurants should extend to Maharashtra’s vast street food sector — where fresh research in Pune shows serious hygiene and compliance gaps among vendors who cater to a large number of citizens daily.A representative from a prominent restaurants and hotels’ association said on condition of anonymity that organised restaurants account for a small percentage of India’s food business. Hawkers, dhabas and roadside eateries that form a big category fall under the same FDA regulatory framework, but see far less inspection and enforcement.“These vendors are not outside the law — they were meant to be part of the same push for safe food from day one,” the representative said, calling for enforcement to catch up with that mandate. Health of people who eat daily at street stalls and highway dhabas deserves the same attention being given to organised dining, he added.A member of National Restaurant Association of India said, “Small eateries, breakfast stalls, egg bhurji spots and vada pav joints are untouched. Many of these places are likely to be unhygienic. FDA action should cover these places on a wider scale for public safety.”That call for wider coverage finds independent backing in a new community-based study in Pune.A study published on Aug 10 in BMC Public Health found significant gaps in basic food safety infrastructure and practices among street food vendors. The study — ‘Factors associated with compliance among urban street food vendors with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) checklist: Evidence from multinomial logistic and gamma regression models — was conducted by researchers from Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University) Medical College, Pune, including Rupeshkumar Deshmukh. It identified several gaps in food safety compliance among street food vendors.The assessment found that not many vendors had lidded waste bins or adequate handwashing facilities, while only around a third used food grade utensils and equipment. Gaps were also found in the use of fresh, FSSAI-licenced raw materials, hygienic storage and use of potable water. Only a small share monitored cooking oil quality or maintained appropriate temperatures for cooked and perishable food, while ready-to-eat food was covered only at some stalls. Waste management was another major concern, with a large number of vendors not following proper garbage disposal practices.However, an FDA official said enforcement against street food vendors was being carried out regularly, citing action taken against vendors in Belapur and Navi Mumbai. “In Belapur, for instance, action has been taken against at least four-five vendors, with two of them being fined Rs50,000 each.”
