new delhi the centre is planning to launch a pilot project in 16 cities to train street vendors to maintain hygiene and ensure food safety to prevent the spread of foodborne diseases in the countrywe are planning to launch pilot projects in 16 cities and evolve a model for street food vendors health and family welfare minister anbumani ramadoss said here on wednesday after releasing a national report on street food surveythese people will be trained on hygiene and sanitation their training will go a long way in doing away with diseases like typhoid diarrhoea and other diseases we want to create awareness if it is followed then half the disease burden will go away he saida network of food vendors should be formed so that they could adopt food safety measures he saidthe minister said in hong kong malaysia and singapore the street food vendors have designated space to do businessthe survey was part of the capacity building project in the food and drug quality and safety project launched in october 2003 the world bank had given assistance of rs 356 crore for the projectthe national coordinator of the survey s p gupta hoped that a street food code would be based on the findings of the survey reporthe said that licensing should be made mandatory for all vendors and issuing the licence should be the joint responsibility of the local municipal authority and the health department the countrywide survey has shown that there is a rapid spread of foodborne diseases due to growing number of people eating at street outlets that do not pay adequate attention to food safety and nutrition aspectsthe survey backed by the health ministry found that mass production with limited resources and scant attention to food safety is affecting the quality of fare served at these outletsmass production of food with limited facilities adverse environment including poor quality water and inadequate sanitation and little attention to food safety and nutritional needs is having an adverse effect on the health and nutrition of the people served by these street food units said guptain addition to poor health and malnutrition the rapid spread of foodborne diseases has been experienced among consumers of street food he saidthe survey was conducted when it was found that health problems were rising among consumers even as street food outlets mushroomeda total of 1280 mobile vendors food kiosks small restaurants fast food joints roadside dhabas outlets at stations and bus stands retailers and sweetmeat shops were randomly selected some 4160 food handlers and 4800 consumers were interviewedthe survey showed that storage vessels and disposal bins were uncovered and dirty attracting flies and insects the most vulnerable activity from the health point is mixing of ingredients by hand by workers at a majority of units without proper washing of hands and utensils and without care for hygiene and sanitation said guptaabout 30 per cent of the units used appliances for this purpose it was found these were not properly washed and covered