Street food in India finds space everywhere, be it on the sidewalks of popular shopping destinations or in the by-lanes and alleys surrounding heritage sites and busy office hubs. Street food enables us to explore the local culinary delicacies. Nestlé India has been training street food vendors across the country for over seven years. In Uttar Pradesh, it has further expanded the project to more cities by collaborating with FDA, Uttar Pradesh, and National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI). The second phase of the project will train 3,000 street food vendors in Agra, Prayagraj & Lucknow on food safety and hygiene, safe food handling, waste disposal and digital payments.
At the launch of the second phase of the project in Agra, Prof. S. P. Singh Baghel, Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare said “Agra continues to be an important destination for tourists, where they experience not only the architectural brilliance of the city, but also get an exposure to local cuisine and city specific food. We take immense pride in the diverse food heritage of our country, where the food landscape changes every few hundred kilometers. Street food vendors represent local food traditions that keep the ‘food craft’ alive. Project Serve Safe Food is an important step in upskilling the street food vendors. I would like to congratulate Nestlé India in their endeavor.”
Mr. Sanjay Khajuria, Director, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Nestlé India further added, “At Nestlé India, we are committed to improving the food safety environment by going beyond the quality and safety of our own products. Project Serve Safe Food empowers street food vendors by upgrading their skills through relevant trainings on hygiene and food safety practices. This helps to improve their awareness on the importance of raising the standards for food safety and hygiene.’’
Ms. Sangeeta Singh, Program Head, NASVI said, “We aim to empower street food vendors across India by enabling them to enter strategic employment opportunities by training them on food hygiene and safety. Project Serve Safe Food has helped several thousand street food vendors across the country and with the expansion of the Project in Uttar Pradesh, we hope to improve the livelihoods of more street food vendors in the state.’’
Since its inception in 2016, Project ‘Serve Safe Food’ has benefited over 41,000 street food vendors across 25 states/UTs. The trainings have been conducted across states including Assam, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, J&K, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Orissa, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
For more information:
Ambereen Ali Shah, [email protected], +91 9717022731
Amit Kumar Roy, [email protected], + 91 8447737626