A shadow of suspicion looms over India’s meals state of affairs. In recent times, a collection of high-profile meals contamination incidents have shaken shopper confidence. Because of this, many individuals have gotten extra cautious about their each day meals decisions. Road meals, as soon as a beloved image of India’s wealthy meals tradition, is going through rising scrutiny over security and hygiene.
In July 2024, raids on 58 pani puri stalls in Chennai revealed alarming practices. Officers discovered merchants utilizing contaminated water and dipping their palms in chutney. These circumstances are usually not remoted, however spotlight alarming disparities in meals security throughout India’s casual meals sector. Road meals brings custom and group to life, however its hygiene requirements are sometimes unchecked.
Meals security and requirements for each packaged and unpackaged meals come below the purview of the Meals Security and Requirements Authority of India (FSSAI). Nonetheless, the sheer variety of unpackaged meals distributors makes it tougher for regulators to constantly implement security requirements. In distinction, with packaged meals, clearer labels and standardized processing protocols enable for stricter enforcement of traceability, transparency, and authenticity requirements.
Security and reliability of packaged meals
India’s processed meals business is usually related to comfort. But it surely additionally displays a structured system of meals manufacturing, formed by science, regulation, and evolving shopper expectations. In comparison with the casual meals sector, the organized processed meals business operates inside a clearer surveillance framework. The regulatory pointers set by FSSAI span your complete manufacturing cycle, from sourcing uncooked supplies to packaging the ultimate product.
Fashionable processing strategies additional improve this reliability and shelf life even in fluctuating climate situations. Strategies resembling pasteurization, vacuum sealing, and aseptic packaging are extensively adopted all through the business. These strategies assist scale back microbial danger whereas preserving taste and dietary worth. It additionally addresses broader distribution and storage wants, particularly in city areas and dealing populations.
Transparency is one other space the place packaged meals provide transparency. From allergen and ingredient lists to manufacturing and expiration dates, packaged meals give shoppers, particularly dad and mom, seniors, and health-conscious people, the instruments to make knowledgeable dietary selections.
Importantly, the business is responding to rising shopper priorities round processed meals. Pushed by market demand and rising well being consciousness, corporations are evolving their product portfolios by introducing a variety of merchandise that cater to health-conscious shoppers, thereby increasing the alternatives accessible to them. On the identical time, meals fortified with essential micronutrients are proliferating to handle widespread dietary deficiencies. These adjustments symbolize a accountable and forward-looking strategy that aligns business pursuits with shopper well-being.
It is a part of the meals world, nevertheless it additionally comes with dangers.
Road meals stays a vibrant and integral a part of India’s meals tradition. It displays its cultural heritage, helps hundreds of thousands of livelihoods and continues to be a preferred selection for locals and vacationers alike. However beneath this wealthy, flavorful floor lurks a collection of systemic dangers that can not be ignored.
A latest evaluation by the Observer Analysis Basis paints a grim image, with India recording a staggering 100 million circumstances of meals poisoning every year, with an estimated 120,000 deaths. A big proportion of those diseases are related to contaminated meals from casual sources resembling road distributors, small eateries, and roadside stalls. These are usually not simply statistics. These pose a big public well being burden and disproportionately impression probably the most susceptible sections of society.
Road meals usually suffers from poor high quality as a consequence of incorrect cooking strategies. For instance, recycling of cooking oil is a standard observe that not solely reduces the dietary worth of meals however may result in the manufacturing of dangerous trans fat and different poisonous compounds. Equally, the inducement to make use of low-cost and adulterated components is excessive. These practices usually lead to localized outbreaks of meals poisoning and different gastrointestinal diseases, which regularly go unreported, additional concealing the true scale of the issue.
FSSAI has launched initiatives to coach, certify and combine these distributors into the regulatory framework. In collaboration with Brihanmumbai Municipal Company (BMC), we now have launched a meals security coaching program for road meals distributors in Mumbai. Coaching modules embrace private hygiene, secure meals dealing with, storage procedures to stop contamination, correct waste disposal, and extra. On the identical time, the unorganized nature and enormous scale of the sphere implies that this will probably be a gradual and steady effort.
Promote security initiatives
Whereas packaged meals goes past comfort and displays a structured, science-driven strategy to addressing meals issues of safety, it is very important be sure that road meals is secure and hygienic by way of coaching and evaluation of road distributors primarily based on national-level campaigns such because the Eat Proper India motion and Clear Road Meals Hub (CSFH).
As India strikes on the trail of modernization and urbanization, guaranteeing entry to secure and hygienic meals should turn into a prime precedence for all involved. Whereas the romance and custom of road meals stays integral to India’s cultural cloth, the well being dangers related to it can’t be ignored, particularly when public well being is a nationwide precedence. The way forward for meals in India should be formed by an unwavering dedication to security, not feelings.
Arpita Mukherjee is a professor on the Indian Council for Analysis in Worldwide Financial Relations. The views expressed are private
issued – November 24, 2025 12:08am IST
