Mumbai: FDA to inspect Juhu, Girgaum chowpatty food stalls for hygiene maintenance

The state-run Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be inspecting food sold by vendors at Juhu and Girgaum Chowpatty. Earlier, the FDA along with the FSSAI had trained street food vendors at these two chowpatties on guaranteeing food safety and also distributed hygiene kits.

According to FDA officials, the inspection will be carried out to see if they are following the food safety measures. Under the street food vending initiative announced last month by the FDA, two major street food joints — Juhu Chowpatty and Girgaum Chowpatty — were identified. The authorities also selected streets famous for street foods in other cities, such as Saras Baug in Pune and Futala Talav in Nagpur.

Speaking about the inspection, Shailesh Adhav, Joint Commissioner, Food, Mumbai, said, "We have already trained street food vendors twice. To fill the gap and see if they are following the instructions, we will be inspecting these two places along with an association of food scientists and technologists on Friday.

The main objective of the inspection includes looking at the hygiene measures followed by street food vendors to provide quality food. "We want them to coordinate with us and ensure that safe street food is served," added Adhav.

In the street food vending initiative, FDA will be the first one to fill up gaps where there is a lack of good facilities. The problems that come in the way of maintaining good hygiene include non-potable water, cleanliness of the place, and waste disposal.

Recently, BMC's Hydraulic Engineering Department collected 3,086 water samples from 24 wards and found that 53 samples unfit, while 14 of them had E-coli contamination.

"The street stalls do not maintain hygiene standards, which in turn contaminates the water. Maintaining hygiene will reduce the spread of infectious diseases," Dr Madhukar Gaikwad, Medical Superintendent, St George Hospital.