CHAPTER I

PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

For over years, the food industry has become great in number. With this occurrence,
various businesses started to rise. One of these is the street food trade. It is an activity that
provides employment to many while selling fast, tasty and ready-to-eat foods to people in the
streets or other public places by a vendor and hawker, often in portables talls. Being low cost and
convenient, street foods are preferred by almost 2.5 billion people in the world to satisfy
hunger (FAO, 2007). Moreover, it has contributed 40% to the daily diet of urban consumers
in developing countries (Steyn, PhD, 2011).In the Philippines, street food is known
As-pagkaing kalye and has become a part of the culture and lifestyle of Filipinos. Many street
foods are connected with take-out, snacks, dumplings, and fast food with various local flavors. In
fact, everyone enjoy sit. They benefit from its healthy consumption as well as it grants one
important aspect in Filipino culture– finding pleasure in eating. However, the informal nature of
this sect of the economy sometimes allows poor hygiene standards, making consumption of
street food a potentially hazardous source of nutrition. Since street foods are located along busy
public areas such as pavements, school premises, rail and bus stations, problems such as
microbial contamination, unhygienic practices, and lack of basic facilities like potable water are
associated with it.
This study is targeted primarily to street food vendors who serve as the vital handlers of
food before consumption; and secondarily to consumers who patronize and live by the culture of
street food vending. This study is not intended to be a technical manual, but rather a discussion
of issues relating to food safety and sanitation of street foods.
Statement of the Problem
The main problem of this study is to find out the health safety awareness and cleanliness
of street food vendors in handling street foods for the consumption of people in Dalsol St., GSIS
Village, Brgy. Sangandaan, Q.C. Specifically, it seeks to find answers on the following
questions:

1. What health benefits do street foods offer?

2. Why are street foods well-liked by students?

3. Are street foods really dirty?

4. How safe are street foods?

Significance of the study

As perceived by the researcher, the study proved very important to the following:

a) The vendors
The study will aid the vendors to correct their wrong practices in preparing and handling food
and enable them to strive to do the right one to guarantee health safety.

b) The students and the public

The study will aid the learners as well as the people in the community to be cautious of their
choice of food in order to avoid any diseases that may weaken their bodies and affect their daily
activities.

c) The parents
This study will aid the parents in a way that they will be guided and aware of the food their
children are eating when they are away from home and so they
could monitor their children‘s health from time to time.

d) The school
This study will aid the school by providing them ideas to detect poor hygiene practices of its
students so that it may seek ways to tackle the issue.