Street vendors selling food to be given training

FSSAI certificate made mandatory

Street vendors selling food will be able to ply their trade only after they undergo mandatory training and receive certification. In a first such exercise, training will be given to street vendors in the west zone, covering Gandhinagar, Malleshwaram, Rajajinagar, Mahalakshmi Layout, Govindarajanagar and Chamarajpet Assembly segments.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) stated that the move is in the interest of public health, and to ensure that quality ingredients are used, and food is sold in a hygienic manner. This is as per the new guidelines of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM). The training will be given as per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Those without the FSSAI certification will not be allowed to vend, the release said.

The decision to have training for street food vendors was taken by the zonal town vending committees (TVC), said S. Babu, president of Bengaluru Urban District Street Vendors’ Federation.

In the first phase, the TVC members of West zone were trained. In the second phase, street food vendors are being trained, he said.

West zone is the first among eight zones in the BBMP to organize the training programmes for the street vendors. “Soon, other zones are likely to follow suit,” he said, and added that barring Bommanahalli, all other zones have TVCs. The elections to the TVC of Bommanahalli zone will have to be held soon, as per the order of the Karnataka High Court, he added.

While the conditions under FSSAI are stringent for street food vendors, it is a good move as it is in the interest of public health, he said.

The BBMP has invited applications from street vendors coming under different assembly segments of West zone by February 19.

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