17 of the 104 tested pani puri samples unsafe for consumption, say food safety officials

Food Safety Department inspects pani puri stalls, finds 17 unsafe samples; focuses on training and licensing street food vendors.

A month after the Food Safety Department inspected the pani puri stalls/carts across the city, 17 of the 104 samples lifted for testing were found to be unsafe for consumption. Food safety officials, after coming across poor hygiene practices at many of these outlets, are focusing on training and licensing street food vendors, having covered over 1,000 of them so far.

On July 2, officials of the department started inspecting pani puri shops/carts across the city. “A total of 104 samples — sets of puri, sauce, and masala — were randomly lifted from stalls across the city and sent for analysis. Results showed that 17 of these samples were unsafe for consumption (non-conforming to standards). This could either be due to bacterial growth owing to contamination caused by handling the sauce barehanded or adding food colouring to it,” P. Satheesh Kumar, Designated Officer, Food Safety Department, Chennai, said.

Focusing on street food vendors/food handlers, the department started conducting special medical camps and workshops on food safety training and certification with help from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). “We have covered 1,100 vendors. This not only includes those selling pani puri but also other street food vendors/handlers,” he said.

Mr. Satheesh said all vendors should obtain an FSSAI licence, and the training was compulsory. “They should understand the importance of personal and hand hygiene. Consumers should see that vendors do not use their bare hands while serving food but should use gloves. They should use ladles to pour the sauce. If the consumers notice that the sauce has too much colour, they should avoid it,” he added.

Meenakshi Bajaj, dietician, Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital, said empowering, educating, and training food handlers as well as consumers and homemakers was important. “It is important to prevent food-borne illnesses and ensure quality. So, looking at the preparation and serving of food alone is not enough as we should also worry about how the food is stored. Hand hygiene, the water used to wash hands, the headgear and clothes worn, and surfaces and storage containers must be looked at,” she said. Implementing proper food handling, cooking, and storage practices can significantly reduce the risk of contamination and ensure food safety, she added.

She added that it was important to screen food handlers for communicable diseases, including typhoid, hepatitis A, and tuberculosis. The impact of consuming contaminated food on health can be short-term (fever, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and vomiting) and long-term (communicable diseases). “Vulnerable groups, such as already undernourished children, the elderly, pregnant women, and those with immune-compromised conditions, are at high risk. So, care should be taken,” she said.