Street-food vendors instructed to provide safe & hygienic food

September 16, 2023 28 Views No Comment

Nestle India conducts training on ‘Project Serve Safe Food’

Morung Express News
Dimapur | September 16

The Dimapur district administration along with officials from law enforcement instructed street-food vendors operating within the commercial areas of Dimapur town to maintain and provide safe and hygienic foods to their customers during the one-day training organized by Nestle India Limited at the Tourist Lodge Dimapur on September 15.

As part of the corporate social responsibility of Nestle, the project dubbed as, ‘Serve Safe Food’ was aimed at providing training on health, personal hygiene, cart hygiene, food handling, food safety, cleaning, pest control and waste management. During the orientation round, several officials from the district administration, Dimapur Municipal Council and police were present to provide keynote addresses in this regard.

Deputy Commissioner of Dimapur, Sachin Jaiswal in his speech stated that as Dimapur has a lot of floating populations, several businesses have cropped up across all locations including street food vendors. He noted that street food is popular among many people around the world due to their affordability and convenience. However when it comes to Dimapur, street food culture in general still lacks several of the basic requirements such as hygiene and quality standards.

There are many food safety regulations which have been put in place and should be followed by all irrespective of whether they own a street food cart, restaurant or café. This is to ensure that the food served is fit for human consumption according to food safety standards, he said.

As per his experiences, the DC viewed that, “In Nagaland most of the people are non-vegetarians, as such, it is all the more necessary to provide safe and clean food.”

Moreover with Dimapur being a hot and humid area, food products easily get spoilt, so taking these factors into consideration as well, the food vendors must provide the safest food.

In a lot of cases, garbage dumping along the side of the roads especially at down town and at Supermarket area was due to the presence of street vendors, he said, and reminded them that this should not be practiced. “Wherever there are designated centers to dispose your garbage, use that instead,” he added.

Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) Chairman, W Manpai Phom on the other hand said street food culture in Dimapur has been gaining considerable popularity over the years but in terms of cleanliness and safety, it has been left wanting. “It is not only the administration but the responsibility for all to provide the best facilities to the public,” he noted.

If there is a designated area, it would be preferable, he said, adding that “we are open to suggestions from you on how to improve garbage collection.”

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Vesupra Kezo, also among the speakers present said that as consumers, Nagas are generally open to all types of food products and have no reservations towards any one food product. “This is a positive prospect for businesses on the one hand but that should not be taken advantage of,” he said.

Moreover, he reminded them that one cannot simply set up their stalls anywhere on the roadside creating traffic problems plus other inconveniences for the public. “Due to which we took the decision to remove the street-food vendors earlier at City Tower area,” he reasoned.

At the end of the training programme, the participants were provided with FoSTaC certificates and hygienic kits.