Street Food "Missing Everything"

(Baonghean) -It is not difficult to find street food stalls, most of which are concentrated in market areas, school gates, hospitals or bus stations... The reason these stalls attract customers is because of their convenience, and especially their cheap prices, suitable for the needs of the majority. In addition to the above advantages, street food also has many potential risks of causing illness because it does not ensure food safety.

Street food poses potential food safety risks (illustrative photo)

“Out of sight, out of mind”…

In front of the Provincial General Hospital, on the sidewalk every 2-3 meters there is a restaurant. The food here is very diverse, from vermicelli, porridge, pho to fried potato cakes, mixed fruit... At first glance, the way the food is displayed looks clean and eye-catching, but if you look closely at the "backstage" of the restaurant, you will see that it is extremely dirty, cooked food is not covered, dishes are left on the ground right next to the walkway; the vendors, the "watchers" of the urban order team, when these functional forces come, shout at each other to push the goods, causing them to fall everywhere. Although the restaurants are very sketchy and unhygienic, they are still crowded because they are convenient for passersby, patients and their families to serve... The streets of Le Hong Phong, Nguyen Van Cu, Nguyen Sy Sach... (Vinh City) are considered "night food paradises" for diners, the situation of unsafe food is similar.

Poor hygiene conditions are easily seen in most street food businesses, but a more concerning issue is the “gap” in food safety knowledge of those who do this type of business. According to Article 8, Circular No. 30/2012/TT-BYT of the Ministry of Health on street food management, it stipulates: “Street food vendors must be trained in food safety and have a certificate; must have a health check and be issued a certificate of health eligibility; people with infectious diseases must not have direct contact during the food processing process; raw materials for processing street food must ensure food safety, have clear origin and source; have enough water sources that meet technical standards for processing and trading…”.

However, almost no street food establishments or outlets in the city ensure compliance with regulations. Even when asked about these regulations, many shop owners appear "bewildered". The owner of a porridge and eel vermicelli shop on Ho Sy Duong Street (Vinh City) said: "Those regulations are only for large restaurants and eateries to implement, but sitting on the sidewalk selling pots of porridge for people to eat breakfast like us, what is the point?" While the awareness of business people is still limited, many consumers are "easygoing", not really interested in choosing and using food safely to protect their own health.

Mr. Le Viet Hung in Hamlet 16 - Hung Loc Commune said: "At noon, my colleagues and I often invite each other to eat street food on Le Hong Phong Street, which is close to the office for convenient work in the afternoon and the price is also affordable. It is convenient, but I am also worried because I do not know if the business people prepare food hygienically, and whether the food source is guaranteed or not while the authorities have exposed and arrested many cases of "dirty" food being smuggled into the market of our province". As for Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy (nurse of the Cardiology Department - Provincial General Hospital of Friendship), she said: "If you demand hygiene, you can only cook it yourself at home, but when you eat at restaurants, especially sidewalk restaurants, you just need to like the taste, as for hygiene, you have to accept "out of sight, out of mind"...

Need to raise public awareness

According to statistics from the Nghe An Food Safety Department, in 2013, the province had 8 food poisoning cases with 265 people affected and 1 death, of which food poisoning caused by street food accounted for about 5%. Mr. Dao Trong Dung - Head of the Nghe An Food Safety Department said: Implementing the plan of the Provincial People's Committee on implementing the "Month of action for food safety and hygiene", the Department has advised the Department of Health to submit to the Provincial People's Committee a decision to establish an interdisciplinary inspection team to ensure food safety. Accordingly, the province has established 466 interdisciplinary food safety and hygiene inspection teams; of which 1 team is at the provincial level, 24 teams are at the district level and 441 teams are at the communal level to conduct inspections.

The month of action for food safety and hygiene took place from April 15 to May 15. The provincial Inter-sectoral Steering Committee on Food Safety and Hygiene has deployed a series of activities from the provincial, district, city to commune, ward and town levels. In particular, special attention was paid to enhancing the role and responsibility of local authorities at all levels, festival management boards, industrial park management boards, producers, traders and consumers in ensuring food safety for street food; strengthening inspection and examination of food safety at food production and trading establishments, especially street food establishments; mobilizing street food establishments to sign a commitment to fully comply with regulations on ensuring food safety...

After inspecting 8,236/15,442 establishments, 6,854 establishments met the requirements (accounting for 83.22%); in the food production and processing establishment type, 870/1,953 establishments were inspected, 662 establishments met the requirements (accounting for 76.09%); in the food service type, 3,196/4,937 establishments were inspected, 2,632 establishments met the requirements (accounting for 82.35%); in the business type, 4,170/8,552 establishments were inspected, 3,560 establishments met the requirements (accounting for 85.37%). The delegations have drawn up records of violations with 1,382 violating establishments, handling 374 cases with the main contents such as: Food processing participants still lack knowledge and sense of responsibility for food safety and hygiene; processing areas are not up to standard and unhygienic; violating regulations on the use of food ingredients in food production and processing; on the use of food additives and food processing aids in food production and processing; violating regulations on the use of packaging materials and utensils in direct contact with food in food production and trading; food sampling and testing procedures have not been strictly implemented...

The activities carried out by the Provincial Inter-sectoral Steering Committee on Food Safety and Hygiene have brought about certain results, but it must be said that this series of concentrated and in-depth activities only took place during the peak of the Action Month, not enough to change the reality of food safety and hygiene in street food businesses. After that, everything went back to the same old way like "throwing stones at a duckweed pond". The Action Month has not passed for long, but at this point, the activities of street food stalls have returned to their original state, full of risks of food safety and hygiene, and just a quick look at the "lack of everything" sales style of street food vendors is enough to feel uneasy...

To ensure food safety, first of all, each business household must be aware of its responsibility to public health in order to adjust its behavior and change its business conditions to meet food safety requirements. Authorities at all levels, especially communes and wards, must take the lead, and health agencies at all levels must advise the authorities well to mobilize a large number of social forces to effectively participate in food safety activities in their areas. It is necessary to promote communication and education to raise public awareness of this work. In addition, consumers must equip themselves with food safety knowledge, boycott street food stalls that do not ensure food safety, notify management agencies and promptly handle street food stalls that do not comply with food safety conditions.

Ngoc Anh