Honourable Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis today inaugurated Project ‘Serve Safe Food’, a program run by Nestlé India in collaboration with Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), Maharashtra and NASVI. The program will train the street food vendors in the state of Maharashtra through a mobile van on important and critical subjects like health, hygiene, safe food handling, waste disposal and entrepreneurship with the support of the FDA Maharashtra. Along with food safety, the aim is to help enhance the livelihoods of street food vendors across the state. Project ‘Serve Safe Food’ has already benefited close to 5000 street food vendors across India since its launch in November 2016 and will benefit an additional 3600 street food vendors across the state of Maharashtra.
Speaking on the occasion, peaking on the occasion, Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra said, “If we can make street food vendors aware of the importance of food safety and hygiene it will lead to a brighter future for them. This initiative is a great way to not only ensure healthy food for consumers but also enable street food vendors to sustain better livelihoods.”
Dr Pallavi Darade, Commissioner, FDA Maharashtra added “In today environment “Food Safety” & “Hygiene’ plays a key role especially with street food vendors for which training attains paramount importance. This initiative between Maharashtra FDA and Nestlé India becomes vital.”
Dr. Swati Piramal, Director on the Board, Nestlé India and Vice Chairperson, Piramal Enterprises Limited said, “Enhancing livelihoods and ensuring safe food is at the core of Nestlé India’s societal initiatives. This training programme will enable street food vendors to serve clean and hygienic food. This initiative will go a long way in improving the livelihood of street food vendors and ensuring that Food served to people is safe and healthy.”
Mr. Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director, Nestlé India, added, “We want to build and share knowledge through collaborative partnerships to help improve food safety in the country. I would sincerely like to thank the Government of Maharashtra and NASVI for supporting this initiative and enabling all the participants today.”
According to Mr. Arbind Singh, National Coordinator, NASVI, “Maharashtra has a vast number of street food vendors and this training program will help increase their income and promote a healthier state. NASVI also updates the data of trained street food vendors on the STREETSATHI APP which promotes street food vendors and helps them sustain their livelihoods in turn.”
