Commissionerate of Food Safety, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Nestlé India and NASVI Launch Project ‘Serve Safe Food’ in Port Blair

Port Blair, March 13: Expanding Project Serve Safe Food across India, Nestlé India in collaboration with the Department of Food Safety, Government of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) launched the initiative in Port Blair to train over 500 street food vendors.

Project Serve Safe Food focuses on educating and training the street food vendors on health, hygiene, safe food handling, food cart hygiene and waste disposal The trainings are aimed at bringing about behaviour change, building knowledge on food safety that can improve the quality of food. Till 2019, Project Serve Safe Food has been implemented across 17 States/Union Territories, reaching out to more than 20,000 street food vendors.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Abhishek Dev, IAS, Commissioner of Food Safety, Andaman and Nicobar Islands said, “Street food vending provides livelihood opportunities and makes a substantial contribution to local economy. Lack of training in food safety and good hygiene practices is widespread among street food vendors, which can put street foods at risk of contamination, often at all stages of handling. Therefore, imparting basic training in food hygiene and safety to street food vendors is necessary. This important initiative undertaken by Nestlé India and NASVI in Port Blair will benefit local communities’’.

Mr. Sanjay Khajuria, Director, Corporate Affairs, Nestlé India said, “Driven by Nestlé’s Purpose of enhancing quality of life and contributing to a healthier future, Nestlé India as a part of its societal initiatives, launched Project ‘Serve Safe Food’ in 2016. This is aimed at capacity building of street food vendors and enabling them to voluntarily adopt hygienic practices that improve the food quality. The behaviour-change that this initiative brings amongst street food vendor through training interventions are encouraging”.

Ms. Sangeeta Singh, Head, Street Food Program, NASVI, “The trainings conducted under Project Serve Safe Food are carefully designed in keeping with the needs and requirements of the street food vendors operating in a particular location. The training materials are written in simple languages, delivering messages that are easy to understand. It is heartening to see the positive impact that the trainings have on the street food vendors.’’

Project Serve Safe Food has been rolled out in Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Delhi, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Puducherry and Assam.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.