BENGALURU: Karnataka will launch a food-safety awareness and training drive for street-food vendors, with a focus on hygiene, safe food handling and responsible use of cooking oil, Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader said on Wednesday.
Speaking at an interactive session on food safety organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) in Bengaluru, Khader said the government would focus on educating street vendors and food handlers along with strengthening inspections and enforcement.
The initiative will cover hygiene during food preparation and serving, cleanliness, safe handling of ingredients and the reuse of cooking oil. Khader said more than 1,000 street-food vendors would be trained as part of the initiative.
He also said the government was examining mechanisms to prevent repeated reuse of cooking oil. One option being explored is collaboration with biodiesel companies, which could collect used cooking oil from hotels and other food establishments and use it as raw material for biodiesel production. This, he said, could provide establishments with an alternative disposal mechanism while discouraging unsafe reuse.
Khader also announced that Karnataka plans to host a national-level Food Safety Officers and Commissioners Conclave in October. Officials from different states are expected to participate in discussions on food-safety practices, gaps in existing systems and areas where regulations need to be strengthened. The recommendations emerging from the conclave could also be taken up with the Centre for necessary amendments to food-safety rules, he said.
Khader stressed that food safety cannot be ensured through inspections alone and called for greater awareness among food businesses, vendors, food handlers and consumers. BCIC president K Ravi said government-industry collaboration was essential to strengthen food-safety standards and consumer confidence.
BCIC also expressed its willingness to work with the state government through awareness programmes and industry participation. Delivering a special address, Dr V Pashupathy, National Advisor, Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) and National Award recipient for Food Safety, said food safety should be treated as a management responsibility rather than being confined to kitchen operations.
He said that in the last 90 days, 11,216 food-safety raids conducted across the country had resulted in 172 suspension notices, 519 criminal cases and 926 improvement notices with fines. He also pointed out that 46% of recent suspension notices were linked to raw-material management.