New Delhi: In a move aimed at reducing food-borne diseases and improving overall health outcomes, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has on Thursday reviewed the ‘Food Street Project’ to develop 100 healthy and hygienic food streets across the country with senior officers of the ministry and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
As per the statement, the objective of this project is to encourage safe and healthy food practices among food businesses and community members.
“To operationalise the food streets, the National Health Mission (NHM) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will provide assistance of Rs one crore per food street as a pilot project to support 100 such food streets at different locations across the country,” the ministry said in an
official statement.
The grant will be routed under NHM, in the ratio of 60:40 or 90:10, with the condition that branding of these food streets will be done as per FSSAI guidelines, it said.
The financial assistance would be provided for activities such as the provision of safe drinking water, hand washing, toilet facilities, tiled flooring of common areas, appropriate liquid and solid waste disposal, provision of dustbins, using billboards, facade preparation and signage of permanent nature, common storage space, lighting, specialised carts for a specific type of trades, branding etc, the statement added.
The ministry further informed that the initiative will be implemented through NHM in convergence with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), apart from FSSAI’s technical support. “The technical assistance will include assistance in designing food streets, preparation of an standard operating procedure (SOP) and providing training under Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) protocol,” it added.