Food stalls in front of school gates: Cheap and surprisingly dirty?

(Baonghean) - Street stalls selling colorful, attractive-smelling snacks in front of school gates pose many potential health risks to students.

Every day at around 4:30 p.m., at school gates in Vinh city, carts and street vendors carrying many types of fast food, prepared on the spot such as spring rolls, fried sausages, sandwiches, grilled meat, chips... appear, waiting to sell to students after school.

Fast food and snacks are prepared right on the sidewalk, with eye-catching colors and attractive smells that attract children, but absolutely do not have expiration dates or information about their origin. The prices are shockingly cheap: 2,000 VND/fried spring roll; 25 ml spray fruit juice costs 2,000 VND/bottle; Coca Cola 1,000 VND/cup, tiger meat 3,000 - 5,000 VND/package...

Temporary stall in front of Quang Trung 2 Kindergarten (Vinh City).

Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ha, whose child is studying at Quang Trung Kindergarten (Vinh City) said: “I know that these mobile food stalls often use ingredients of unclear origin, do not have clean water, and have poor personal hygiene conditions. But sometimes my child asks for too much, and I see that all my friends have it, and I feel sorry for my child and cannot help but buy it. I think it is okay to feed my child less!”

Most of the food at school gates is prepared on the spot, regardless of the dirt outside, the preparers do not wear gloves or any other cleaning tools. To take advantage of the space, many stalls even sell food right next to sewers, sewage ditches or garbage collection points.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, 70 - 80% of street foods are contaminated with bacteria, including E. coli, a type of bacteria that causes diarrhea, intestinal diseases and cholera. This explains why food poisoning is happening more and more, and diseases related to the digestive tract are increasing dramatically. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lam - Deputy Director of the National Institute of Nutrition said: It is very possible that the food also contains unauthorized additives, which will affect health if eaten.

The management of street food services has gone beyond the scope of schools and belongs to the departments and local authorities. However, there are only occasional inspections, warnings, and penalties. After the inspections and penalties, unhygienic and unsafe situations recur.

Although Circular 30 of the Ministry of Health regulating food safety conditions for food service establishments and street food stalls has been effective since January 20, 2013, but until now when looking at food stalls in front of school gates in Vinh city, 3 towns and townships, almost no establishment has guaranteed to have a compartment to store and preserve food and drinks in a hygienic manner; must be protected from dust, rain, sun, flies and harmful insects; have enough equipment and tools to process, preserve and display raw food and cooked food separately; have invoices and documents proving the origin of food...

Sweet fried dough sticks with vague manufacturing facility address and no manufacturing date (photo taken in front of Hung Nguyen Town Primary School).

Currently, food safety inspections by authorities are only focused on large food production and trading establishments. If there are inspections at schools, they are only focused on kitchens, dining halls, and canteens. As for the stalls and street vendors in front of school gates, they have not received due attention, and violations have not been thoroughly handled.

Meanwhile, the inspection and examination staff is not strong enough to closely monitor and understand each area... Legal regulations clearly stipulate that the management of this type of business is only assigned to the People's Committee of the ward or commune where the school is located. However, the workload of the People's Committee of the ward or commune is often very large, so the management of street food in general and food in front of schools in particular has not been given due attention.

To end the threat of unsafe food surrounding schools, there must be participation and coordination from many sides. Schools need to improve the effectiveness of propaganda and education so that students do not buy or use floating products and foods of unknown origin; coordinate with local authorities to check food businesses at school gates to see if they meet regulations or not and have monitoring measures to ensure student safety. Parents need to be aware of the risks from food in front of school to prevent and avoid possible bad consequences.

Thanh Cuong - Thanh Son