Food Safety of Indian Street
Food is of utmost concern yet FSSAI the regulators have ignored this and chose
to persecute Imported Food from developed countries
The Old Delhi neighborhood is specked with thousands of small
stalls. In a corner, Rahul churns out sizzling jalebis, on a black sooty pan, in which he keeps on adding more
vanaspati with sparky droplets of sweat sizzling in the pan. Kaka ji beckons
you with his grimy Chicken Biryani under
the pipal tree, obviously garnishing
the fare with bird droppings. Fighting for space is Ajay Rehriwala, with his Chawal
Rajma that carries instances of Delhi’s pollution, dust and weather. Seekh Kababs marinated with whatnots and
black dust, hang in Delhi’s wild west. In India, traditional home-grown
delicacies are served everywhere from 5-Star hotels to roadside stalls.
Millions of us survive on small street carts dishing out cheap meals. In the
midst of this cacophony, Food Safety - FSSAI was created to sniff into
everything that you eat. To improve food safety on farms and on our plates,
FSSAI was given the mandate to make eating safer. And is it a coincidence that
trade calls it FaSSAI, hindi for trapped?
As a wide-eyed intern, I was obviously
flabbergasted after digging deep into the plate. The promise, pains and the
problems of the street food tradition are on full display in India. Sid
Khullar, a food commentator and founder of the blog ChefAtLarge says "I
don't think there's any kind of checking happening there and it's possibly one
of the filthiest places to eat at. Street food would go down a lot easier, if
there were more stringent checks of quality and hygiene to make sure it's safe
to eat.” FSSAI had plans to do to just that but sadly they are driving down a
different highway altogether.
Every school-child knows about the
adulteration in milk, mustard oil, pulses, paneer,
Desi Ghee, Haldi, Spices, etc. but
somehow all that Munna Bhai FaSSAI does, is to turn a blind eye to this all. I
almost puked when a Maharaj (cook) at
my friend’s place told me that GolGappa
sellers spike the Khatta Paani with a
capful of Toilet cleaning Acid. eeeks!
Savvy Soumya Misra, a specialist in food
safety at the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi says "In
India you take the Indian consumer for granted, but you go out of your way to
ensure that whatever you're exporting is absolutely world class. So it has to
be understood, that whatever Indians are consuming also should be good standard
food and not just any food."
Roaming around, meeting people from trade and
industry, I realized that FSSAI is like a joke imposed on us. A visit to Yojana
Bhawan that houses the Health Ministry, gives you a picture of the intent and
thought of the people behind Food Safety. Arun Pandey, runs a Chholey Kulche stall on his rickety thela with a large monstrous brass pot
carrying his daily inventory, wrapped in a red lungi cloth. The Kulchas
come out of a plastic sheet and he heats them on an inverted tawa marinated with the dust & flies
again. The Babu from the Health
Ministry nonchalantly chomps off his chickpea lunch, and growls at Ajay with
his mouthful for a piece of hari mirch
laden with Argemone oil. Obviously, I
got the message, loud and clear at this point. Munna Bhai FaSSAI is just taking
us for a ride.
A call to Food Safety did not materialize since
Madam ji was busy. On enquiring further I realized that Madam ji, Dr Sandhya
Kabra, ex-NACO was a ferocious lady with frizzled hair who is known in the
department as the one who shoots off her mouth. She has been the draconian face
of FSSAI for quite some time now and has been reprimanded by the Delhi High
Court recently. A producer of namkeen
on conditions of anonymity says “you have to talk to madam ji once, to know
what FSSAI is all about. She is like a terrorist in the garb of a woman and can
out-shout everybody in every meeting with fistfuls of expletives thrown in.”
She is ably supported by a Dr Pandian, who is a veterinary medical professional
(sic). Imagine, the country’s Food Safety for humans, being decided by a
veterinarian.
And finally when I prepare to submit this
piece, I read in today’s Times of India about Wines, Chocolates, Cheese, Olives,
Canola oil and Apples being stopped on some pretext or other by Munna Bhai.
Maybe FaSSAI should know that imported food products undergo stringest tests
and scrutiny in one of the best factories across the world. At the breakfast
table, I silently ate my favourite Washington Apple, the crunchiest bread pakoras fried in Canola oil and
threw in a big chunk of dark chocolate in my mouth, thinking about life without
them.
I rushed to office to file my story, “Kal ho naa ho!”
9:15 PM |
Category: |
0
comments
