How safe are street foods?
DAGUPAN, as one of the major education and business centers in Northern Luzon, is a magnet for small-scale entrepreneurs, including street food vendors.
Food stalls and carts have mushroomed around the city’s many schools, colleges and universities and these street foods are a hit among students because they are affordable, filling, and could be considered “exotic” delicacies.
To name a few, there’s isaw (chicken intestine), adidas (chicken feet), betamax (dried chicken blood), walkman (pork ears), and helmet (chicken head). There’s also the one-day old chick, tokneneng, kwek-kwek, fishballs, squidballs, kikiam, calamares, corn/sweet corn and the distinctly Pangasinan kaleskes and pigar-pigar.
The street food list, according to Chief Sanitary Inspector Marlon Quebral, actually also includes puto, suman, and palamig.
For many, their immune systems seem to have adjusted well to the street fare. But to the untrained stomach, street foods could pose health hazards.
Quebral said there are street vendors who do not conform to the hygiene standards set by the Department of Health (DOH). He personally considers street foods as generally “unclean” and warned consumers about the risks.
BLUE CARD
Quebral pointed out that the blue card which street vendors are supposed to have is only one of the requirements for conducting their business and it does not guarantee compliance to hygiene standards. The blue card merely certifies that the vendors have undergone a procedure that proves that they are not sick of any disease that can be contagious or poses a threat to their customers.
He said street food vendors also need to have a sanitary permit and a business permit.
Nonetheless, Quebral concedes that street food is already an established part of the people’s culture and lifestyle. And he calls on vendors to follow guidelines for hygiene and cleanliness for the sake of their customers.
Among the illnesses that can be acquired from unhygienic street food gastroenteritis, viral hepatitis, intestinal parasitism and hepatitis A and B.
Street foods are here to stay, and so consumers need to be more discriminating while vendors have to observe proper hygienic practices.—Gregor Aquino Sajonas
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