Essay On Street Food Vending

Food safety is of paramount importance in global public health. Food may be a source of many foodborne illnesses if not properly handled. Street food vending is a thriving business especially in the developing countries, and it is one of the most common practises in countries around the world, as it is known to generate income in many of the households (Munyanja, 2011). Additionally street food vending provides income in many of the households globally. Street food vendors are estimated to feed more than 50% of the urban population in developing countries (Campbell, 2011). It is reported that in South Africa there is no uniformity on the regulations of informal trading which includes regulations of informal trading such as street food vending, but through observation Polokwane Municipality tried to regulate street food vending by trying to register most of the street food vendors.

In a study conducted by Monney et al (2013) in Ghana it was found that 97.4% of the street food vendors had been trained on food handling and 77% had some form of knowledge on food safety and food handling. Although 4.67% of

Most of the street vendors do not have immediate excess to water as reported in a study by Muhonja and Kimathi (2014) who states that 72% of street food vendors bought water from water vendors and only a minority of 28% obtained water from a tap, thus this could result in street food vendors recycling water for either hand washing or dish washing (Chukuezi, 2010). Regulation of this industry is not well established within the municipalities. Thus, although street food vending is a thriving industry it needs to be monitored for health and safety of the