Hello, this is Open Brain bringing you insights into international affairs. Indian cuisine is renowned worldwide for its rich use of spices. From curry and naan to spiced biryani, Indian restaurants can now be found in nearly every corner of the globe. However, within India itself, street food is often seen as a byword for dirt and diseases.
In recent years, many viral videos showcasing Indian street food have gained massive popularity online, highlighting vendors who prepare unique, dark delicacies in extremely unhygienic ways, stomping and slapping the food in unconventional methods. While viewers can't take their eyes off these clips, the thought of experiencing them firsthand might be quite different.
In this episode, we'll explore the reasons behind the unsanitary reputation of Indian cuisine. If you haven't subscribed to our channel yet, please click to subscribe across major video platforms.
Videos introducing Indian snacks are going viral. Presented with sharp wit, exaggeration, and humor, they display the preparation processes of various snacks. Catchphrases like "You may not eat it, but you should let your friends try" and "Indian food is delicious, but not when eaten in India" have become popular internet memes.
Widely relatable, such videos have already become hits in Asia and are now capturing the attention of English-speaking content creators as well. With the boom in short video traffic, these Indian snack horror shows are trending globally on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
This trend has also reached India itself, where many locals feel outraged, believing the videos exaggerate and distort the reality of Indian street food, often portraying it in an overly negative light. Some of these videos aren't even filmed in India but are deliberately designed to reinforce stereotypes about the country.
On the other hand, some Indians acknowledge that hygiene issues in street food do exist and even joke that even a local with an iron stomach might end up rushing to the restroom. Objectively speaking, every country faces food safety issues, and India has plenty of clean and hygienic establishments. Yet, from a broader perspective, there are systemic risks in India's food production and sales processes, with street food hygiene issues acting as a microcosm of these larger problems.
Research shows that India experiences significant foodborne illness, with nearly 100 million cases yearly resulting in over 100,000 deaths. Foodborne illnesses occur when people consume contaminated food, leading to symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, and in severe cases, organ failure and death.
Due to outdated food production equipment and inadequate sanitation monitoring, contamination often occurs during food processing in India. According to India's 2023 Food Safety Report, around 25% of food samples tested by regulatory bodies failed to meet national food safety standards. The report indicates that hygiene issues aren't limited to street food. Many restaurants also routinely violate regulations. Visible problems like cockroaches and rats are common, but hidden dangers include carcinogenic compounds that can be found in heavily spiced food.
From an international perspective, food is closely tied to tourism. No matter one's personal taste, a country's cuisine attracts different diners. However, when a nation's food is labeled as unsafe, the potential damage to tourism is significant.
To improve its image, the Indian government has frequently updated food safety regulations and launched nationwide restaurant training programs to enhance hygiene standards across the catering industry, aiming to boost tourism's healthy development. Despite the government's continuous policy updates, food safety issues in India remain challenging, rooted in three major factors: water pollution, weak law enforcement, and dietary habits.
First, India's public health infrastructure is underdeveloped. While India has invested heavily in economic development, particularly in infrastructure like railways and airports, public health funding has been relatively limited. Environmental issues have worsened with economic growth, and water pollution, in particular, is a significant problem.
Restaurants rely on clean water. Regardless of how fresh their ingredients are or how clean their utensils are, polluted water directly affects food safety. Without clean water, health risks persist. According to data, 70% of India's water sources are polluted, and approximately 200,000 people die yearly from water pollution-related health issues.
The severity of water pollution stems from two main factors. First, sanitation management struggles to reach daily life, with vast amounts of industrial and household waste discharged directly into rivers without proper treatment. For example, the Ganges sees over 4,000 trucks of waste, including human and animal waste, dumped daily. Both the main and tributary rivers are filled with plastic waste.
Secondly, there are issues within India's primary industries, which employ the most people but lack proper sanitation infrastructure, with agricultural waste directly polluting groundwater.
Next, India's government has weak enforcement of food safety regulations. Although food safety laws exist, less than 20% of India's food establishments are licensed, yet they continue to operate, let alone the numerous roadside vendors. There are two reasons for this lack of enforcement: the shortage of food safety inspectors to oversee the entire industry, and widespread corruption within the bureaucracy, where bribery is common, allowing vendors to easily evade checks.
Finally, and perhaps most fundamentally, is the general lack of attention to food safety in India's catering industry. From upstream producers to downstream consumers, awareness of food safety risks is low. Farmers and ranchers can't provide traceable sources for their ingredients, while processors and restaurant owners struggle to assess food risks.
In such an environment, hygiene standards in restaurants become lax. Whether the environment is clean or if hands are washed becomes irrelevant. As long as the ingredients are heated to high temperatures and heavily spiced, potential issues are masked. For end consumers, they have no way of knowing the food's hygiene level and have grown accustomed to poor standards, helplessly accepting food safety issues.
In summary, while the Indian food horror videos circulating online may be exaggerated, they do reflect a portion of India's food culture. For Indians, there are factors at every level, from government to society, that make food safety a difficult issue to resolve in the short term, which naturally forms a negative impression among foreigners.
That said, India remains an enchanting and exotic destination. If you plan to visit, CNN suggests the following to reduce the risk of gastrointestinal discomfort:
1. If visiting in hot and humid seasons where food spoils quickly, it's best to choose chain restaurants.
2. Avoid sauces made from fresh fruits or herbs, as they often use untreated water, posing a higher risk.
3. Steer clear of roadside beverages, opting instead for sealed bottled water or mass-produced canned drinks.
4. Avoid undercooked food, as storage conditions for fresh ingredients are unstable. Eating thoroughly cooked, hot food can effectively lower infection risk.
Have you ever been to India or tried authentic Indian cuisine? Feel free to share your views in the comments below. This is Open Brain. Don't forget to like this video, subscribe to our channel, and hit the notification bell for more content. We're looking forward to your engagement. Thank you for watching, and see you in the next video.
Source:
OPEN BRAIN. (2024, November 8). What’s Behind India’s Food Safety Crisis? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOO-NIEOUJk