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NASIR ALI
Srinagar : Nowadays, traveling through the streets of Srinagar we came across a fair amount of street vendors selling different types of junk food without ensuring its hygiene. They do not understand that their unhygienic food can become a health hazard. Customers should avoid food from vendors, and if they want to buy, they should ensure its hygiene. The government should tackle the problem by making laws that pressurises street vendors to sell hygienic food. In the past, there have been sea changes in the eating habits of the people especially among younger lot. Be it schools, colleges, hospitals, bus terminals, railway station or popular markets, roadside vendors are present in the entire city. Most of them are found running the stalls in most busy localities bustling with traffic exposing the food to dust and pollution.
Although the Health Department maintained that they kept collecting samples of eatables from time to time, the ground reality speaks otherwise.
“The vendors use the same oil for frying repeatedly till it gets exhausted which can have adverse impact on the health of consumers. The piece of cloth used for cleaning the surface, utensils and covering food items is also used by the vendor for cleaning hands. My family does not eat out be it a roadside stall or a restaurant, we prefer preparing dishes at home,” said Zubair Wani, a resident.
“Eating unhygienic foods often lead to various food-borne diseases. Vendors must keep in mind that tasty food is not the only parameter customers look for and if they serve food prepared in unhygienic conditions, customers will fall sick and it they will lose their customers. Hygienic and healthy food should be served to make permanent customers. The Food Safety Department must conduct regular checking and take food samples of street vendors to ensure the quality of food. Customers must be aware of what is being served to them,” said Uzma Bashir pursuing Phd.
“Vendors use baking soda as a cooking substitution, which can lead to acidity, vomiting and even hyper-acidity in some cases,” he said. Even if some of these preparations are served hot, it does not mean that the germs are destroyed. Germs can be transferred by serving food in dirty plates and when vendors don’t wash their hands. “It is true that the food that is prepared and served by these street vendors is unhygienic.
Salmonella bacteria infection is a major food-borne illness that one can get by eating at unhygienic places. This infection can lead to symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea along with fever. One is also susceptible to other bacterial and viral infections such as rotavirus by eating street food. These unhygienic food stalls can become a source for disease outbreaks like cholera.
Not only does unhygienic food gets served to people, but also some foods containing carcinogenic additives and other harmful agents that are strictly advised against by doctors and healthcare professionals.
Roadside vendors in Kashmir often sell food prepared in unhygienic conditions. The Health Department should conduct seminars and provide training to these vendors. FSSAI should provide certificate to those vendors who fulfil certain laid-down conditions. These certificates should be displayed at shops and vendors. Sanitary conditions and waste disposal system should be strictly checked. They should use gloves while preparing food.
The need to ensure hygiene of food sold by vendors has become the need of the hour. Municipalities and food organisations can play their part by recruiting officers to examine the quality of food. The responsibility also lies with the consumer, who should avoid consumption of these products if they are unaware of the conditions it has been prepared in. The Municipality and health department should regularly conduct raids to make sure that all roadside vendors adopt hygienic methods of preparing food, especially in rainy, and humid season.
