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With the grip of sudden and unprecedented urban growth, non-traditional food trends have gained a big momentum in the world, especially in developing countries. Among them, Street foods play an important role while mushrooming worldwide rapidly. These are defined as ready-to-eat foods and beverages prepared and/or sold by vendors and hawkers especially in street and other similar public places. (FAO)

Street foods are appreciated just because of their unique flavors, convenience, business opportunities for developing entrepreneurs and contribution to the economies of developing countries. And also, surprisingly, Street foods accounts for a variable and significant part of daily diet and nutritional requirements through a wide range of ingredients and products, at low cost for millions of urban workers and inhabitants in those developing countries. According to a research done in Indonesia, it was possible to obtain almost half the recommended daily allowance of protein, iron, vitamin A and vitamin C from a street food meal by spending US$ 0.25.

With all of these pros, there is a huge discussion on the major public health risks related to street foods due to several reasons. Lack of general food safety knowledge of many street food vendors and inadequate public awareness of possible hazards of these foods and lack of basic infrastructure and facilities have led to these major health risks.

Here, we present a food safety hazard analysis in terms of possible biological and chemical hazards that may contaminate street foods via several sources and processing steps.

𝗩𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:

In most of the cases, the preparation locations and conditions are reported as unsuitable for the preparation of foods. Street foods are frequently processed near road side stalls where they are not clean and not well lit while exposing to many sources of contamination. Foods prepared earlier can be remained on the preparation surfaces, promoting cross contamination. Since the foods are not covered well, food borne pathogens may harbor due to the exposure to flies, dusts and insects etc. During the food handling by vendors, a bunch of pathogens like Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter and S. aureus can be eventually transferred to these foods as food borne hazards to consumers. These pathogens are transferred from vendor’s skin, nose, hands or even from faeces due to lack of proper hygienic practices. On the other hand, due to the lack of facilities for liquid drainage and disposal of garbage and discarded or deteriorated foods, these vending locations may become a habitat for rodents, insects and media for growth of microorganisms who may eventually become hazardous for these foods.

𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗮𝘄 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 - 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 & 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀

One of the major problems in the food services in developing countries is that the quality and the safety of raw materials are substandard for business reasons and therefore it has become a critical point, especially in street foods. Safety and quality of the portable water used in street foods are very important as the water contamination can persist through preparation and cooking. Most of the cases, when there is a lack of clean potable water supply for these vending stalls, the vendors tend to re-use the water, especially for cleaning purposes. However, there is a major risk of contamination of well-known enteropathogens such as E. coli, Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp., when unsafe water is being used for cleaning equipment, utensils, hands and used as an ingredient and washing of foods.

Besides water, the possible safety hazards of other raw materials are also important. As an example, the raw meat, poultry and vegetables can be commonly contaminated with potential food borne pathogens like B. cereus, C. perfringens, C. jejuni, E. coli, L. monocytogenes, Salmonella and S. aureus . Presence of mycotoxins is another major burden for the raw materials used in street foods. Studies found that these aflatoxins, ochratoxins and patulin producing fungi (mainly Aspergillus and Penicillium spp.) were found in various street food items in many developing countries.

In addition to these contaminants, there is a major concern in non food-grade chemical additives such as coloring agents, flavor enhancers, preservatives and contaminants like pesticide residues and the use of adulterants. For example, a study conducted in India has found that the banned toxic synthetic colorants such as Metanil Yellow, Orange II and Rhodamine B which is having hepatotoxic, neurotoxic and carcinogenic effects, have been detected in several street food vending stalls. In fact, the sellers may frequently use these additives to enhance the unique taste and the appearance of their products.

Obviously, most of the street foods contain high amounts of Trans Fatty acids and Carbohydrates which is directly related to the non communicable diseases.

𝗨𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 :

Studies show that higher levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead and mercury probably come from leaching from the utensils which are not properly designed and cleaned. Also the aluminum pots used in cooking may leach aluminum ions into the food, especially acidic foods, that may cause serious adverse effects on the brain and kidney. The other case is that, due to the poor designs and the poor maintenance of cleaning utensils, the food preparation surfaces and surrounding can not be properly cleaned and that may promote the occurrence of hazards and cross contaminations.
Also the serving utensils used in street foods may contain pathogens like Micrococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. which may have originated from the vendors hands when they touched the food preparation areas, dishcloths or the water during dish washing or hand washing.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 :

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and Acrylamide formation is another major food safety burden in street food preparation. Generally PAH is formed due to the incomplete combustion of organic matters such as foods and wastes. Similarly, when grilling or smoking and overcooking or protein rich foods like BBQ, these PAH is formed. Also Acrylamide is formed when frying starch rich foods like French fries and potato chips. The presence of these two toxic compounds at higher levels may promote the risk of cancers and some PAH also having dioxin like properties. The major reasons for the formation of PAH and Acrylamide in street foods are, their characteristic long cooking time, high temperature cooking and also the reuse of cooking oils.

𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 :

Here, the major concern is the storage temperature. In most of the cases, street foods are stored at ambient temperatures for a long period, before the consumption. This situation may cause food poisoning outbreaks. Leaving cooked foods for hours and even for overnight at ambient temperature, definitely creates a favorable condition for the growth of foodborne pathogens like Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens. Some vendors reheat the foods at the time of purchase by a customer. But, if so, the time-temperature exposure during reheating needs to be sufficiently high or long enough to inactivate large quantities of pathogens that could develop during the long storage period. But unfortunately, that’s not properly done in most of the street food stalls.

𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡 𝙈𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨……

The efforts made should focus on,
01. Educating the food vendors, based on food safety,
02. Provide sufficient facilities and improve the environmental conditions under which the street food trade is carried out,
03. Public awareness based food safety and risk of consuming substandard foods.

Still there are no sufficient regulations and standards related to the safety and the quality of street foods. Therefore appropriate regulations must be implemented and incorporated into existing food regulations.

However, many of us are sceptical about whether it's safe to eat. As long as certain hygiene conditions are met, there's no reason that street food isn't safe for consumption. Because, some developing countries like Thailand, promote their street foods and process them at sufficient hygienic conditions and quality, targeting the tourism industry. Some of them use advanced utensils and processing machines in their stalls as well.

So, the street food concept has a big potential in money making on a national level, 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗳 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

-𝘈𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘢 𝘓𝘢𝘬𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘯-




𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨:

01. S. Rane., “Street Vended Food in Developing World: Hazard Analyses”, Indian Journal of Microbiology, pp. 100-106, 2011

02. I. Proietti., C.Frazzoli., A.Mantovani., “Identification and management of toxicological hazards of street foods in developing countries”, Invited Review, Food and Chemical Toxicology, pp.143-152, 2013

03. T. Rheinlander., M. Olsen., J.Bakang., H.Takyi., “Perception of Street Food safety in urban Kumasi, Ghana”, Journal of Urban Health, pp. 952-964

04. Codex Alimentarius, 2008. Codex General Standard for contaminants and toxins in food and feed. Codex Stan. 193–1995.