Thiruvananthapuram: Street food may be hugely popular among food lovers and lucrative to small entrepreneurs but the quality of food served in these joints goes largely unmonitored.People are drawn to these joints as the food is tasty, less expensive than that served in restaurants and offers a different dining ambience.
With vendors mushrooming, the food safety department is unable to check quality and hygiene, as they are hard-pressed for staff to inspect most of these units. The rule is two food safety inspectors per assembly constituency.Recently, two people died after dining at a seafood restaurant in Vizhinjam. Even when the authorities are awaiting food sample results to find the cause of the deaths, there is no proper system or wherewithal for the food safety department to monitor the street vendors.In the city, it is almost impossible to monitor several eateries as food is cooked and brought from elsewhere. It is almost impossible to track down the kitchens where the food is prepared. There are also vendors who set up plastic tables and chairs at noon and sell packed lunch brought from home. There are several stalls that operate near Cotton Hill, Kesavadasapuram, Kuravankonam and other areas at night. They do not display a licence from the city corporation or a registration from the food safety department.Several vendors say that they are yet to get a food safety licence. The city corporation estimated that there will be around 3,500 vendors in the city. However, that is only a rough estimate. The situation is worse in the suburbs. P Gopakumaran Nair, a patron of street food, said, “Almost every household will set up an eatery in front of their house in Kovalam and Vizhinjam. There is hardly any monitoring.” They are a hit among tourists too because at least the beach-side eateries are prohibitively expensive in Kovalam.Commissioner of food safety Afsana Perween said “We are registering the street food vendors. The quality of food is being checked. The respective food safety officer will check the kitchen used by vendors. Awareness programmes are also being carried out. The hygiene and quality of food is far better than other states.”Although vacancies were filled, existing number of food safety inspectors is not enough to handle the restaurants and the street food vendors.
