Officials plan crackdown on street food joints

VIJAYAWADA: Food safety officials are bracing up to inspect street food centres in the city as complaints against food carts have been increasing day by day. Officials say that cooking oil and water used at food carts are highly dangerous. Food adulteration or use of unsafe ingredients in food items is quite common in street food joints and push carts.The majority of food carts in the city are unlicensed and they are preparing food using adulterated ingredients at unhygienic places. 

Consuming food from these places may bring serious health problems. 

Food safety officials admit that they are getting many complains against push carts in the city. They claim that at the time of inspections, the push carts will remain shut or or they change their places.Speaking to Express, N Poornachandar Rao, Assistant food controller, said, “In a short span, we are going to raid all the food carts in the city -- both licensed and unlicensed. We have received many complaints from the public regarding unhygienic conditions of street food centres. In fact, many of these carts are unlicensed. Many of them are on encroached spaces or on the drains. In many cases, we found that these joints are using adulterated ingredients like used oil, unsafe water and rotten vegetables.”

He warned that people must be careful in choosing a food cart especially when it is not located in a clean environment. 

“Fast food joints like noodles and fried rice stalls generally use adulterated oil and spices. In some cases, noodles and rice are cooked in wastewater. In food carts where they sell bhajji’s, usually the batter and chutneys would have a mix of leftovers, which is highly dangerous.” complained second year student P Sowmya, who was badly affected with food poisoning after eating from a roadside shop. 

“Usually I like to have golgappas and have them at my regular place. But one day, I had with my friend at another place in Satyanarayanapuram, where the cart is just adjacent to an overflowing drain and the food is not that great. Ignoring all this, I started eating. Later, I was admitted to a hospital.”

“It is the worst experience for me, which made me to avoid all roadside foods,” she says.