Oct 7, 2014

Street food vendor sets hygiene benchmark

His low income worries his wife, peers make fun of him... but that does not deter Dilip Kumar's passion to serve healthy and hygienic food to his customers


31-year-old Dilip Kumar -Nisha Samant

Kumar makes sure that fruits and other edible stuff at his stall are covered at all times -Nisha Samant

Even as per the guidelines of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, the food vendors should stick to basic hygiene standards
Donning an apron and a cap with gloves in his hands, Dilip Kumar (31), who sells juice and bhelpuri, an Indian snack, near Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Karol Bagh, cannot be dismissed as just another street vendor.
A cleanliness freak, Kumar has set a high benchmark for ensuring the safety of street food he sells by using only mineral water for his preparations, apart from using good quality salt and spices. Unlike his peers, he makes sure that fruits and all other edible stuff at his stall are covered at all times. Moreover, he even uses disposable glasses to serve juice to maintain food safety standards.
"I understand the importance of hygiene because I have studied till class 12th, but I had to discontinue my education due to lack of resources,” shares Kumar. Oftentimes, sticking to safety standards reduces the profit margins for Kumar but that does not deter his spirits.
His low income often worries his wife. One of Kumar's two sons is mentally challenged and medical bills add on to family's monthly expenses. "Sometimes my wife gets angry and says that no matter how much I stick to hygiene standards, I would not be able to take care of the family's needs. I try to calm her down saying that I would prove myself one day,” he confides with a smile.
Even the fellow vendors in the area make fun of Kumar when they see him following the standards so seriously. But Kumar explains why he chooses to ignore such people, “The food vendors laughing at me will eventually realise that sticking to food safety standards is good not just for the customers, but also for the vendors as it would restore the confidence in costumers and increase our business.”
Furthermore, Kumar further explains that even as per the guidelines of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) , the vendors should stick to basic hygiene standards – wearing gloves and caps, washing hands before cooking, not picking their noses and not scratching their head or ears.
“But most of the vendors are not aware of the norms, and even those who are aware do not follow the rules,” mentions Kumar.
Kumar has also been invited to give a speech on food safety at National Association of Street Vendors of India's (NASVI) event, for adhering to the FSSAI standards.
But it is surprising that not only the street vendors, but even the customers have often made fun of Kumar for following rules so seriously. “Some customers have even asked me why am I wearing gloves. I tried explaining to them that I was just trying to serve healthy food to them. But it is amusing when the same people tell me – Ye akela banda pagal hogaya hai, gloves pehan ke pata nahi kya saabit Karna chahta hai? (This guy has gone crazy. God knows what does he want to prove by wearing gloves.)” he shares.
However, one of his customers, Ajay Rana who works with pharmaceutical major, Ranbaxy got impressed with Kumar's dedication and passion and now he is a regular customer. "As a customer we want fresh and hygienic street food. I prefer coming to him because he gives fresh juice and while preparing lemon juice he never uses spoiled lemon. I often pat his back for the good work,” he says.
Another regular customer, Manish, points out, “Many doctors, nurses, patients attendants and others prefer his juice and bhelpoori .His rates are also reasonable. It's very rare that we get to eat street food that is both hygienic and reasonable.”
Despite giving so much importance to cleanliness and hygiene, Kumar has no permanent place to set up his stall."I have all the legal papers where the court has mentioned that until the new vendor committee is formed, I should not be displaced. Despite that I am often made fun of when I run with my cart to escape from the MCD van. They say-- Achhe kaam karane wale ke sath yahi hota hai' (Those who do good all the time, end up like this).” he confesses.
"My only request to authorities is that if some one wants to do a good work, they should encourage them because conducive and stable environment is important for us to earn our livelihood,” he adds.
Even if people do not acknowledge his efforts, it goes without saying that street vendors like Kumar serve as an inspiration for other vendors and make sure that street food lovers can enjoy hygienic street food.

DINAMALAR NEWS


Officials, sago manufacturers consultative meet on Oct. 7

To ensure adulteration of sago with tapioca starch was avoided and banned chemicals are not used in the manufacturing of sago, a consultative meeting would be held at the district collectorate at 2.30 p.m. here on October 7.
A press release issued by T. Anuradha, District Designated Officer, Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Food Administration Department and forwarded through Collector K. Maharabushanam said that owners of sago manufacturing units in the district were asked to follow norms and not to use banned chemicals.
The owners agreed to it during a meeting held on June 10 this year.
Hence, to ensure that the norms are followed and adulteration was prevented, sago manufacturers, wet starch manufactures, traders, farmers, government officials, officials from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, Inspector of Labours, would be participating in a meeting chaired by Collector.
The meeting would urge the manufactures not to involve in adulteration and also urge traders not to insist on polished starch using banned chemicals.
Recently in Namakkal, members of natural sago manufactures association went on strike protesting against the adulteration of sago with wet starch.

CBEC to port regulators: Need faster customs clearances

Amid increasing pressure from developed nations to ratify the WTO trade facilitation agreement, the central board of excise and customs (CBEC) has asked regulatory agencies handling clearances to upgrade their facilities and increase their manpower at various ports to facilitate round-the-clock clearances.
India is yet to ratify the agreement, a key area of interest for developed nations that would reduce transaction cost and smoothen the movement of cargo across the globe.
All WTO members are simplifying or have already simplified their customs procedures in view of the impending agreement.
In a meeting chaired by revenue secretary Shaktikanta Das last month, agencies including food safety and standards authority of India (FSSAI), plant protection, quarantine and storage department, animal quarantine department and drug controller of India among others, were asked to “benchmark their infrastructure and manpower required for 24X7 operations at ports in order to bring down the dwell time”.
“The customs department clears only after receiving clearance certificates from other regulatory agencies. However, despite the 24×7 port operations announced two years back, other agencies have been found lacking. This leads to congestion at the sea and air ports. The board has asked them to assess their dwell time, the volume handled and manpower required to speed up the customs clearance,” a government source told The Indian Express.
The source said that in a lot of cases, clearances for products are pending since April 2014. For instance, some cases regarding chocolates and olive oil are pending with the FSSAI since April-May this year. “The total clearance time has been on a rise for some of these agencies,” the source added.
The UPA-II had announced round-the-clock customs clearance in August 2012 to remove constraints for international trade. Earlier the import and export cargo, delivered at a time when clearance facilities were unavailable, had to wait till the facilities opened to move on to their destination.
To remove the piling up of cargo, the measure was announced on a pilot basis at Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, and Mumbai airports and Chennai, Kolkata, Kandla and JNPT, Mumbai, sea ports.
At that time, other government agencies such as concerned port authority, drug controller, FSSAI and private players like custodians, customs house agents, banks etc were asked to synchronise with the extended work hours.
Further, for bringing down the compliance cost and time, the department is also considering doing away with physical submission of some documents like bill of entry and shipping bill. This will be done by using digital signatures based on electronic data interchange (EDI), the source said.