You might soon walk into a dhaba just the way you would walk into a quality restaurant, worrying little about the quality of food that is served there.
After regularising street food, the government now plans to bring dhabas under the food safety regulationsNEW DELHI: You might soon walk into a dhaba just the way you would walk into a quality restaurant, worrying little about the quality of food that is served there. After regularising street food, the government is now planning to bring the dhabas under the food safety regulations.
Restaurants and five stars are covered under the Act, and street hawkers were brought under its purview recently. But, there is no regulation that forces roadside dhabas to follow food safety guidelines, due to which thousands of small eateries provide food without any quality assurance.
“The dhabas are not covered under the food safety Act as of now. But we have to improve their food quality and hygiene standards, hence, soon they will be covered under the food safety Act,” said a Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSA) official. This will make dhabas open to food safety inspectors’ scrutiny and can operate only after government clearance.
The government is also working on to bring a directory of “safe” eating joints in India. To begin with, about 1,000 such eating places in Delhi will be listed. Outlets in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and other cities will be covered in the second phase.
“The directory in Delhi is being prepared keeping the Commonwealth Games in mind since their will be a large number of tourists,” said the official. The joints will be included on the basis of hygiene standards, water quality, ambience and waste disposal and will also be graded. The directory will be easily available at airports, railway stations and other places tourists have easy access to.
The FSSA will assist joints serving both Indian and international cuisines to improve their standards of hygiene and safety to the specified levels. They will also be audited regularly by an independent agency and certified accordingly. The listed establishments will be provided a logo and a certificate saying they have safe eating standards, which the joints have to display for easy recognition by tourists.
According to Delhi health minister Dr Yoganand Shastri the standards of safety and hygiene would be developed. Professionals will train staff at these eating joins.
p_vineeta@dnaindia.net 
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