Gujarat FDCA imparted training to street vendors

Now you can savour your favourite dishes at Law Garden and Manek Chowk in a more hygienic fashion. Staff at the food stalls there are now donning gloves and head gear and disposing of the left-overs in a hygienic manner.

State food and drug control administration (FDCA) officials now visit Law Garden every Thursday to check the result of the training programme they imparted to street vendors last week and, interestingly, they have found that the course has been fruitful.

If you can get good results by training them, why impose a penalty on the vendors, asks the commissioner of state food and drug control administration (FDCA), HG Koshia, while sharing his experience of training the food sellers.

Koshia said, "They were not 'raids' by the FDCA. We had organised a training programme on hygiene and sanitation for the vendors of Law Garden and Manek Chowk. We wanted to see the outcome so we visited the places. I found that most of the vendors and their waiters were using gloves and head gear while serving food and they were also clearing the left-over food in the manner in which they were trained."

According to the FDCA commissioner, the programme was an initiative to educate the vendors in hygiene and sanitation. "We were expecting about 60 vendors from both the places but the turn-out was more than 70. I personally talked to some foreigners who were eating at these food joints during our survey on Thursday. They were happy to learn about the state government's concern for hygiene and sanitation," said Koshia.

He added, "Now, looking at the positive response of the vendors, we will soon organise another similar training schedule. We are planning to invite hotel management experts who can train these vendors in food preparation and cooking in a hygienic way. Ultimately we have to ensure better quality and healthy food for the people."

Source DNA