Nationwide initiatives aim to safeguard public health while keeping the cultural essence of street food alive, with vendor training, hygiene audits, and certified hubs transforming India’s food scene.
New Delhi, August 23, 2025
From the bustling street bazaars of Kolkata to the nighttime markets of Ranchi, street food in India has attracted millions. But where there is delicious chaat or kebabs, there are also food safety concerns. While the best food comes from the street, authorities have started to take this concern seriously across the Map of India with structured plans for hygiene training to modernize street food while maintaining tradition.
Mass Training Program Under FoSTaC
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has ramped up efforts on the FoSTaC program. It has made great progress, offering training for clean food handling, waste management, and personal hygiene to over 3 lakh street vendors. Furthermore, more than 400 street food clusters across the nation now have certification under the Eat Right India mission.
As part of this initiative, all certified hubs are routinely audited and upgraded to include important infrastructure like a safe drinking water supply, pest control measures, and properly organized waste management. Vendors are displaying their hygiene ratings prominently to instill further consumer confidence in food safety.
Mobile Testing Labs and City-led Drives
To expedite food safety checks, 305 mobile food testing labs distributed across the country can conduct on-the-spot tests for adulteration and contamination.
Many cities are supplementing national efforts and their local projects include:
Kanpur has provided vendor training camps, at which, the vendors were given aprons, gloves, and masks.
Ranchi is preparing to open a new night street food hub with improved utilities before Durga Puja.
Russel Street, in Kolkata, has become the city’s first plastic-free food hub, where vendors are only allowed to use products approved by the FSSAI.
There are similar awareness projects in Dibrugarh and other cities focused on compliance as well as regular hygiene auditing processes.
Hurdles That Still Remain
Even with these advances, there are still some challenges. Indirapuram in Ghaziabad had unhygienic stalls with waste. Pune announced suspension of license from a famous Café Goodluck post customers reported finding alleged glass in food, and Chennai has heightened food safety inspections following another food poisoning calamity, with officials taking samples and quarantining offending high-risk vendors.
Why Hygiene Certification Matters
This is more than just about regulatory compliance; it is about public trust and health. Safe street food means less food borne illness risk while enhancing the credibility and income for vendors, it helps bridge India’s wealthy food culture, and food traditions with current safety practices.
What’s Next? A safe future for street food
The authorities are looking to expand training, audit, and mobile testing even further to achieve the baseline for all street food locations on a national level. The end goal is simple – to ensure that enjoying the countries roadside delicacies, are not just scrumptious, but absolutely safe.
