The Filipinos have a very passionate relationship with food. While the Philippines is considered a developing country, Filipinos find ways to still enjoy food without costing an arm and a leg. If you are ever visiting the country, the best way to understand the Filipino food culture is by looking to the streets.

Street food vendors can be found practically everywhere, outside school, beside the church, at the street corners, inside jeepney or bus terminals, etc. They are popular with people from all walks of life but especially to the one who has to keep a tight budget. Street food is extremely expensive. It’s a great experience to try out cheap and delicious Filipino food.

No doubt that Street food is one of the best food in the world because of its taste. Most Filipino love these types of food. Whether it is fishball and Squid Ball, or something exotic like Fried Isaw and Bopis.

Most street food can be found often on crowded streets, specifically on the sidewalks where most vehicles pass by. We all know that most streets with vehicles passing by are dirty because of the Carbon Dioxide and Dust that the vehicle emits.

Our senses brought us to the proper sanitation of the vendors of street foods. Our biggest concern with this problem is the safety of the consumer of this food.

Many street food handlers may use ingredients that are of dubious quality. They may observe faulty food preparation and handling practices, and work in facilities that lack the minimum sanitation standards. They may use recycled cooking oil. They may not use hair nets nor do they wash their hands before food handling/preparation. The food, containers, and utensils may be improperly stored or freely exposed to dirt, smoke, flies. These practices can promote bacterial overgrowth and contamination, increasing the hazards for the consumer.

Moreover, some vendors have indiscriminately adopted “modern” techniques to counteract some of the shortcomings in their food hygiene. They use nitrites and nitrates, unauthorized dyes and cooking oils, and insecticides. Beware of food products free of flies in areas where flies are plentiful.  Such items may be sprayed with insecticides.

“In the context of the impoverished economic situation of our street food handlers and vendors, I observed that the negative attitudes of pagtitipid, bahala na, mediocrity and procrastination remain to be the culprits of the ever growing foodborne illness outbreaks (many of which remain unreported) in the city,” says Ma. Veritas F. Luna, Ph.D., Associate Professor, and Chairperson, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Home Economics, University of the Philippines.

Dra. Luna expounds that food vendors will not practice safe food handling procedures unless there are clear policies and strong demand. Implementing food safety procedures are perceived to result in unwanted expenditures that increase their cost of production. And even if they realize that they can be penalized for endangering the public, they will persist in economizing their resources.

“Warnings for violators of standards on food sanitation are ignored and they say, bahala na! For as long as no one files a complaint, they claim na pwede na ‘yan, wala namang nagrereklamo!,” (that’ll do, nobody complains) she gripes.

But it appears that poor sanitation is not a problem limited to the Philippine setting alone. Street food has been the source of many recent disease outbreaks, notably cholera: in India, from sugarcane mixed with ice; in Malaysia, from noodles with rice; and in Hong Kong, from a green vegetable dish.  Cases of cholera from street food have been documented in Peru, and also in Singapore where sanitary standards are generally good. And who hasn’t heard of that urban legend about rats jumping in and out of the pails of water inside York’s famous hotdog carts. In Bangkok, Thailand, studies consistently found unacceptably high levels of bacteria and other toxins in street food. With support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, a Code of Practice for Street Foods, including 10 steps to make street foods healthier, was taught to food inspectors and a public awareness campaign was developed to teach consumers about the importance of improved hygiene.

Street food by its very nature always presents a degree of risk to the consumer. But the hazards can be minimized. A balance must be struck between standards of quality and sanitation and keeping product costs low.

 What we want to ask the government agencies (Specifically to the DOH and FDA) to become strict in terms of the following:

 1. Regular Monitoring to the Street Vendors. This is a way to monitor whether their following proper sanitation.

 2. Having a specific clean area where street food vendors can have a stall. This can assure that street food is clean.

 3. Strictly Requiring all Street Food Vendors to change their cooking oil after 3 cooking sessions. This is to assure that the food is clean.

And what we want to ask to the street food vendors are the followings:

1. Make sure the ingredients are fresh and are of good quality. 

2. Food should be processed with clean raw materials and in clean conditions.
Wash hands frequently before, during and after handling food.

3. Cook food thoroughly and adequately to kill all possible pathogens.

4. Store food properly and monitor for spoilage. Place food in the right container and at the right temperature within the minimum length of storage time, which will depend on these conditions and the type of food

5. Avoid contact between raw and cooked foods.

6. Serve food properly using clean utensils and condiments

7. Eat food immediately after cooking

8. Re-heat leftover food thoroughly

 By following this suggestion, we can eat street foods without any doubt and we think that street food vendors can get more profit because most of the people will think that street foods are clean.