A unique festival and first of its kind was organised in Chennai to showcase good practices of trained street food vendors, the ‘Street Food Festival’ was organised by Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) on 7th October 2005. This was an opportunity to educate the general public on aspects of food safety and hygiene as well.
30 vending units from across South Chennai were audited using parameters of food safety and hygiene and trained on basic food safety concerns, hygiene and sanitation.
A Street Food Festival was organised at the end of the training programme to publicize efforts of the vendors in adopting good practices in food safety and hygiene. The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Adyar Division, Mr. Ayush Mani Tiwari inaugurated the Festival. CAG’s 2003 study revealed that street vendors were being harassed by the Police by asking bribes. His presence at the festival was a great source of encouragement to the vendors. The festival also acted as an event to sensitise the Police about the street vendors.
Facilities such as lighting, water for consumption and cooking, bins for garbage collection were provided to the vendors.
The street food festival was a coordinated effort of a lot of agencies such as the Corporation of Chennai and the Police (without their cooperation the programme could not have been conducted in a public place), Exnora International (Garbage collection and disposal).
“This is an excellent effort and I think you should extend this training to all vendors in the city and especially the ones at the beachfront.” Mr. Tiwari said
A Street Food Festival was organised at the end of the training programme to publicize efforts of the vendors in adopting good practices in food safety and hygiene. The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Adyar Division, Mr. Ayush Mani Tiwari inaugurated the Festival. CAG’s 2003 study revealed that street vendors were being harassed by the Police by asking bribes. His presence at the festival was a great source of encouragement to the vendors. The festival also acted as an event to sensitise the Police about the street vendors.