Abstract
Risks exist anywhere along the food supply chain; however, the vast majority of negative safety outcomes occur during the handling, preparation, storage, retail and vending of food, and disposing of waste. This study examined the food safety standards followed by street-food vendors in two large cities of India, Hyderabad and Delhi in 2017 after the introduction of the Food Safety and Standards Rules. A survey was conducted in different socioeconomic groups among 200 street-food vendors to understand the compliance and practice of food safety standards in India. Only about one-third of the street-food vendors had registered to run food-vending shops, and most street-food vendors are not following basic food safety principles like wearing apron, access to tap water, were not able to use soap for cleaning utensils, and many did not have refrigerators to store food. The results show that vendors in high-income localities with higher education levels and duly registered were following more safety standards. From a policy perspective, the results show that India’s food safety standards are on a par with those of most developed countries, but that their actual implementation by street-food vendors is not duly assured. To avoid this situation, an exchange of experiences between street-food vendors and consumers should be promoted. “Clean street-food clubs” should be encouraged as one mechanism to recognize street vendors’ needs and to learn from consumers’ demands, so that the awareness of street-food vendors towards food safety standards is strengthened.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support of the Australian Government through the Australia–India Council of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the conduct of this research. We would like to express our gratitude to all the householders and street vendors who have participated in the study for openly sharing their experiences.
Funding
The authors of this research acknowledge the generous support provided for their study “Food Safety and Standards in India” by the Commonwealth of Australia through the Australia-India Council (AIC) of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (AIC ref. no. Jun14092).
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Appendix
Appendix
1.1 Questionnaire to Street-food vendors
Section A. Socioeconomic characteristics
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1.
Name
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2.
Mobile no.
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3.
Address
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4.
Age
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5.
Origin
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6.
Caste
Section B. Business profile
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7.
How old is your establishment?
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8.
Do you have a license?
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9.
Which government body gave you the license (municipality or Department of Urban Affairs)?
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10.
What were the procedures for getting your license?
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11.
How did you get here, and start the business?
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12.
What is the bribe for getting your license?
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13.
How do you raise funds?
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14.
Are you part of any business/trade association or cooperative?
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15.
Are most of your employees your own direct/distant family members?
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16.
What are your operating hours and days?
Section C. Cleaning patterns and standards
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Type of food items, and raw materials used
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18.
Where do you buy your raw materials?
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19.
How do you wash/clean the raw materials?
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20.
How do you store them?
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21.
What do you do with leftover items?
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22.
How do you manage waste?
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23.
What is the source of water that you use for cooking or cleaning?
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24.
Are the plates/glasses disposable? How are they cleaned for next use?
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25.
How often do you change cleaning cloths?
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26.
Do you check if your employees are following some cleanliness standards?
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27.
How often do you and your employees wash your hands?
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28.
How often are cooking utensils cleaned?
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29.
How many times have you purchased a new cooking utensil?
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30.
How do you cool the food?
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31.
Are there stray dogs or other animals in or near your establishment?
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32.
Are there flies on the food?
Section D. Costumers’ behaviour, food standards
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33.
Do customers ever complain about cleanliness?
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34.
Would they pay more if your premises looked cleaner?
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35.
What type of (frequent) customers do you have – men/women, rich/poor?
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36.
Do customers ever have cleanliness and/or hygiene-related considerations?
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37.
How often do you have your disputes with customers related to hygiene, cleanliness?
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38.
How many of your customers are regular customers (percentage), roughly?
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39.
What time of the day is your establishment busiest?
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40.
How do you resolve your disputes with the police?
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41.
Are you aware of laws relating to food standards?
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42.
Has any food standards inspector visited you?
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43.
Do you display any names of ingredients used in your prepared foods?
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44.
Do you display the nutritional value of any items?
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45.
Are you a part of an informal association for collective bargaining?
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Reddy, A.A., Ricart, S. & Cadman, T. Driving factors of food safety standards in India: learning from street-food vendors’ behaviour and attitude. Food Sec. 12, 1201–1217 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-020-01048-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-020-01048-5