SAMBALPUR: With Covid scare still haunting, food quality and hygiene have gone for a toss as street vendors across the city ignore norms of food safety. Sources said street vendors had incurred huge losses owing to curbs imposed during the pandemic in last two years. Now that the restrictions are eased after two waves, they have become aggressive in business and are trying to recover their losses throwing safety norms to wind.
During both the Covid waves, a number of measures were taken to ensure food safety among the street vendors in Sambalpur town. While a number of food carts were evicted due to unhygienic surroundings, those in other places had been asked to follow strict guidelines to operate.
A large number of unregistered food vendors were also reportedly given training on hygiene and social distancing by the Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC). But in absence of regular monitoring, the street food vendors have yet again mushroomed at several areas in the city and without any concern towards maintaining healthy practices.
Take for instance Budharaja area of the city. While a number of food stalls were evicted along the drains, they have again resumed their business just a few hundred metres away. Former food safety inspector Sebastian Horo said while water tests are made compulsory for every restaurant and cloud kitchens operating in the city, it cannot be implemented in case of the street vendors. However, frequent raids were being conducted to check the quality of raw materials and the violators were compounded and fined. The drive was intensified ahead of the Sital Sasthi celebrations this year.
Official sources informed that on an average at least 50 food vendors are found using inappropriate raw materials or violating safety norms every month within SMC limits. This apart, though vendors have been asked to get registered with FSSAI, many of them are ignoring it to avoid paying annual charges every year. Inadequate work force has led to lack of stringent enforcement by the civic body, they said.