Behind the Flavors : Hygiene Issues in INDIAN Street Food

What is going on with street food hygiene in India? What are we seeing on social media? Exploring Indian street food industry.
*Disclaimer* :
All materials in these videos are used for educational purposes only, and fall within the guidelines of fair use. If you represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of material, please contact me via my email in the "about" page on my channel.

[@roronoazorro8822]

I have stopped eating outside since Corona.

[@yashh0909]

Discovered your channel today. Great stuff man. Keep it up and hope your channel grows fast.

[@SaranCena]

Appreciate the support Utkarsh :)

[@crusader8331]

In my town in Doddaballapura there is a palav and puri guy whose kids are studying in USA and in childhood they went to ICSE prestige school. Still he sells puri at ₹20. If he cleans and maintain every day his food will be costlier let's say ₹30. Then his unhygienic competitor who sells for ₹25 will gain all his visitors.

[@SaranCena]

Exactly. People have to start prioritizing hygiene

[@Twisteddrax01]

true

[@karthika_nellaiappan]

Rightly said- the mindset of us consumers must change

[@alvitaojeda6629]

Thanks telling us this information

[@see7529]

If it sells why put effort :)

[@satyadeepborah1143]

Typical Indian mentality

[@SaranCena]

sad truth

[@ssiddarth]

Good one 👌

[@garryonlylogic7598]

Too nice chennel

[@SaranCena]

Thank you

[@gamerbansi13]

using ai for voice or using own voice?? and if ai then which ai

[@SaranCena]

huh?

[@alvitaojeda6629]

But I seen some street food using there feet arm pits cleaning dishes in dirty water there is a difference ok that’s unacceptable

[@rohanbatra69]

Brother, your content is crisp. I recommend bringing a change in your tone and make sounds a bit more dramatic. I understand your style is calmer but your content needs to reach more people. I guarantee your voice will reach more ears

[@SaranCena]

Thanks a lot for the feedback Rohan. Will work on it

[@antjea.3105]

The lack of drama and noise is the reason I prefer your videos to other people's videos. Change your tone and you'll lose your USP.

[@Pavel_ivanovich__batov]

Me who doesn't eat that garbage

[@abis9812]

While hygiene is important for safe eating, there are several points I would like to make. 1. Even in Michelin stars as well as chefs in normal restaurants don't necessarily use gloves. You can see such examples easily on internet. So, gloves cannot be the only benchmark to define hygiene. 2. The usage of gloves and changing them. Who regulates how often they are replaced or whether or not they washed ? Also, even after wearing gloves, people touch food and non-food areas easily. Western bakeries/ cafes are live examples of it. How expensive the replacement of such gloves will be for low level vendors ? 3. All these negative comments which you mentioned are also the from the people who make only deregotary videos about India or comment on it. It's the fast food chains of those countries only that make nuggets and meat patties by grinding every single part of the chicken whether beak or feet. So, why do they feel only India is dirty or unhygienic ? Although I do agree hygiene is an issue in general but rather than targeting low earning groups who have low-income customers in the videos gone viral, there should be stricter safety regulations for middle scale sellers as well as the restaurants which probably may be in even worse state than these videos. As for the lower income sellers, it is also the responsibility of the FSSAI either to ensure they follow hygiene rules or provide them with gloves in case they cannot and train them in the right ways to maintain hygiene.

[@beckynorris4366]

They might not use gloves but they have sinks with running water to wash their hands. He either needed running water or gloves.

[@abis9812]

@@beckynorris4366 totally agreeing to this.

[@stavanraut932]

Okay, firstly, you said that gloves wouldn't matter much of anything to a street vendor. Wrong, majority of the street vendors, probably wouldn't be able to afford it. Secondly you say the defensive mindset needs to change, while you only show some handful of comments and street vendors, who have gone viral on the internet. Thirdly, on the basis of articles, and 'news reports' by media, you're bringing into light the incomes of the popular street food vendors, which are probably higher than, an average middle class man. These articles are deliberately exaggerated, and such luxuries are enjoyed by some of these vendors yes, but most of them do not. Some of the things you were right about, I'd agree, is that probably the vendors aren't even aware of the Schedule 4, and that the customers should be more aware of the hygeine issue. Especially when you talk about the people outside of India coming to eat the street food. But it's really ironic when you say 'don't let such content mislead you', when you are making a whole video based on the impressions of the same content. Yes I get that hygeine here is not that great, but I don't seem to understand what you were trying to conclude, like complaining that the food is bad, and in the end enlightening us that most of these videos are misleading and our food is great, I don't see a strong conlusive point being made in the end. And I'd suggest you to actually do some on ground research, because on one hand you're analysing the content you've been fed on the internet, and then you're making such a statement like don't let content mislead you, it's just really contrasting. And yes most of the customers enjoying such type of food, don't care about hygiene, for two main reasons, they don't see the same in their own home, yes the majority of their customers are from the lower & lower middle class, they don't even know what hygiene is, and secondly, the thing that they are getting for that price is more valuable to them, putting on gloves, or keeping the place cleaner actually revokes their customers from coming on to their stalls, you can actually find an interview about the same. The last thing what I'd say is, that keep yourself in the shoes of both the customer, and the seller, and not the ones that you see promptly on the internet but the real street vendors, that struggle for even a rupee, I hope you are blessed with a real vendors smile when you give them 20rs extra as a tip, and the joy on their face, or experience what it's like to be eating this everyday, not by choice, but they aren't privileged like we are, and that they have no other choice than this.

[@sushantkumar9202]

Akhir khna kya chahte ho... Hygiene must be maintained..

[@SaranCena]

Hey Stavan...Appreciate the detailed feedback. Here are my thoughts: 1. My point is that videos on social media are a good indication that hygiene standards need to be improved, BUT that doesn’t mean all street food hygiene is bad. I had to specify this because people tend to nitpick when addressing a problem generally. For example, in my past videos, I said Indians aren’t blessed with good genetics, but there were hundreds of comments pointing out that certain communities in India have great genetics. I wanted to ensure the same misunderstanding doesn't happen with this video. 2. I did not base this video on just one or two videos or comments. I conducted thorough research on posts across Reddit, Quora, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. For the sake of this video, I only showed a few examples. So, I wasn’t basing this video on a handful of viral content. 3. Finally, I agree that we must put ourselves in the shoes of the seller, but again it comes down to generalizing. Some people are indeed struggling to make a rupee, but that’s not an excuse for everyone. If 4 out of 10 vendors are struggling, that doesn't mean the remaining 6 should get away with poor hygiene practices. Overall, I understand where you’re coming from and really appreciate the detailed constructive criticism. I will work on these points, specifically the point about making a strong conclusion, as I continue to create future videos. I'm still in the learning phase, so I’m glad you brought this up :)

[@Rinirina7]

Bhai tere kehene ka mtlb hygiene hi naa kare?

[@ndgprasad]

Pakka Western mindset

[@jacqdanieles]

Typical defensive comment. No wonder India is so filthy.

[@sharonjoef-sp4dy]

?

[@sharonjoef-sp4dy]

Make valid propositions to rebut the implications made by the admin

[@sahilsingh6048]

Ja Tatti khale , goo pile andhbhakt , western mindset 🤡🤡🤡 pojeet

[@Raytracer96024]

Haan haan ved me toh food hygine ke baare mai bohot kuch likha hai na prasad ji 😂😂😂