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Expanding street food vending business in India
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Friday, 11 March, 2016, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Rajul Parikh
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fiogf49gjkf0d Childhood memories bring back pictures of gol gappas, ice lollies, bhel and chana chor garam being doled out by the local street food vendor; sometimes with a basket around his neck; or wielding a colourful cart; or stationed at the school bus stop at strategic timings. They are remembered as hardworking, friendly people who develop a bond with you and understand your particular tastes and preferences. Often, home-cooked delicacies are compared with the same ones available on the streets and somehow, there is a magic ingredient missing and the taste is not comparable.
While these simple one-man shows are still around, the street food vending business has grown across the length and breadth of urban India. Cheap, quick, colourful, tasty and often nutritious, street food offers immense variety to millions of people on the move, looking for a cheap alternative to higher end cafes and eating houses. With tourism on the rise, both domestic and international, the demand for these street foods has zoomed upwards. As per government’s own admission, the total number of street vendors in the country is estimated at around 1 crore.
Some studies estimate that street vendors constitute approximately 2 per cent of the population of a metropolis. Street-vended foods are a significant part of the urban food supply. They also make a very large contribution to the national economy. Street food vending is a major source of income for a vast number of persons, particularly women; and a chance for self-employment and the opportunity to develop business skills with low capital investment. Vending facilities vary from mobile carts to fixed stalls and food centres.
Again, our memories bring back pictures of street hawkers and food vendors being chased by municipal vans, often loaded with confiscated goods. Not much has changed. Take the example of Mumbai. As early as in 1985, the Supreme Court in the Bombay Hawkers Union vs the Bombay Municipal Corporation directed no hawking zones and the creation of designated hawking zones. But the will to implement this order, or to bell the cat so to say is missing and Mumbai’s pavements & high traffic areas are often obstructed with street food vendors, most of them without valid licences.
Besides unlicensed vendors who are harassed by civic authorities, other basic problems across the board include lack of basic infrastructure and services such as potable water supplies, and toilet facilities; difficulty in controlling the large numbers of street food vending operations because of their diversity, mobility and temporary nature; general lack of factual knowledge about the microbiological status or the precise epidemiological significance of many street-vended foods; poor knowledge of street vendors in basic food safety measures and inadequate public awareness of hazards posed by certain contaminants in street foods, which has been the cause of increasing instances of water-borne infections and diseases over the years.
The Calcutta Study
A study supported by FAO of 1,20,000 street food vendors in Calcutta in 1992 found, besides other findings, that 47% of water used for drinking, washing, and cooking was contaminated. The presence of E coli, ( indicator of faecal matter) in drinking water was found in 55% of the food samples tested. Salmonella was found in typical foods such as lassi, and other cold items where ice was added, and the standard plate count was higher than the norm in mostly all food samples.
While certain Improvements have happened due to rising awareness and increased competition among food vendors over the years, e.g., better display methods and access to standardiSed raw ingredients, major quality problems still plague the sector, mostly pertaining to water quality, handling and storage issues. Hygiene of equipments, poor personal hygiene of vendors; poor quality of water; and inadequate waste management. Rising population, greater urban concentrations have put pressure on municipalities and civic authorities. It is important to remember that while Indians take sunny days for granted, rising temperatures and humid conditions are ideal conditions for the proliferation of dangerous microorganisms which multiply manifold and result in serious water-borne infections.
Regulatory Interventions
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which consolidates various acts & orders that have hitherto handled food related issues in various ministries and departments. FSSAI has been created for laying down science-based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption. This intervention has greatly improved the quality of raw material available to street vendors and many problems relating to adulteration of foodstuffs have been reduced.
Food Safety & Standards Act 2011 is a step forward in the policy legitimising and categorising the street food under section “Sanitary And Hygienic Requirements For Street Food Vendors And Units Other Than Manufacturing/Processing.” This Act describes food contamination, food safety and hygiene for street food vendors. But the Act omits the will to pursue a rightful need of promotion of safe food. Though regulation was the focus - it avoided street vendors licensing questions, which remains a major concern.
However, issues of overall food safety at the point of consumption still remain, and pose public health problems. Implementation has been a weak area. Besides regulatory guidelines, the sector needs major inputs from municipalities, police, vendors, consumers, international agencies (WHO, FAO and so on) and national agencies, NGOs, educational Institutions and all other interested individuals and organisations. Building awareness, training, penal action, information and changing of mindsets are required along with regulation to make a difference.
An interesting development has been the formation of the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) in the year 2003 which is focussed on food safety and regulations of street vendors in India. Registered under Societies Registration Act of 1860, NASVI constitution provides for membership to trade unions, community-based organisations, NGOs and professionals.
Some 732 organisations representing 3.6 lakh street vendors from 23 states have taken the formal membership contributing membership fee. Apart from fighting for the human rights of street vendors which has resulted in passing of the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors 2009 and the Street Vendor’s Act 2014, the NASVI has been working relentlessly to train and educate street vendors in matters of food safety and hygiene. Till date, more than 25,000 street vendors have been trained in aspects of health and hygiene and volunteers work relentlessly to get their message across to change age-old mindsets. Vendors are realising that by raising hygiene levels, there is a boost to their business and income levels. Competition within vendors, and rising demand from educated consumers who are turning to more organised food markets e.g., food courts, is forcing vendors to adapt cleaner ways of doing business. The Swachh Bharat Mission has been a catalyst in this sector too. NASVI organised the first national level street food festival in December 2015, which was aimed at exposing vendors and consumers to a delightful experience, and bringing issues of food safety, handling and hygiene to light. Being in a space provided with the necessary infrastructure: potable water, sanitation and waste disposal made it possible for safer food to be administered, it was found.
With formation of associations and trade unions, and increased competition within the sector, street vendors are beginning to self-regulate themselves with help from NGOs and are becoming more interested in raising hygiene levels. With the advent of smart cities in the future, urban planners must take cognisance of the popularity of street food and plan cities with the aim of integrating this food ecosystem within cities and providing proper infrastructure within specified zones and giving licences without harassment. In the words of Arbind Singh, national coordinator of NASVI, “Authorities should understand that demand and supply will drive street vending activity in India and therefore should not hesitate to offer licences to street vendors.” This will help in organising the sector and with the organisation, real change will become possible.
(The author is co-founder, director, Alfaa UV and President, Water Quality India Association)
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