Street food is among the top delicacies and concerns from food poisoning cases

In recent times, Vietnamese cuisine, especially street food, has been continuously recognized as one of the world's best dishes. Most recently, four Vietnamese specialties were listed as "Asia's best ground meat dishes". The top ground meat dishes include: Bun Cha (ranked 17th); the next dish, beef wrapped in betel leaves, ranked 27th; grilled spring rolls, and lemongrass skewered ground pork, ranked 28th; the last Vietnamese dish on the list is meatball sandwiches, ranked 46th...

Tourists love Vietnamese street food but are concerned about food safety issues. (Photo: kenh14)

Previously, there was a lot of positive information about Vietnamese delicacies in the world's top, such as in April 2024, 6 snacks were in the top 100 best snacks in Asia including: Spring rolls, banh xeo, goi cuon, chao tom, banh dot, banh khot. Or in March 2024, there was information about 11 Vietnamese dishes in the list of "best street foods in Southeast Asia" including sticky rice, pho, banh mi, banh cuon...

With the recognition and votes of tourists about Vietnamese food, it can be seen that Vietnamese cuisine has impressed international friends. Objectively, Vietnamese food is really delicious. That assessment is based on many factors, we have diverse food sources, traditional cultural identity, regional cultural diversity associated with cuisine, many provinces and cities enjoy all four seasons of the year...

Therefore, the dishes are rich and unique. Let me add that Vietnamese food is not rigidly biased towards any one main spice. The way spices are used is flexible, not rigid. The way of processing is also… varied.

Every country has its own cuisine and surely its people are proud of it. However, according to research and experience in some countries, it is found that due to cultural, religious, and climatic factors, the dishes in some countries tend to use main spices such as pepper, chili, curry, coconut milk, etc. Or in cold countries, they eat too spicy or find suitable dishes to fight the cold. In hot countries, we also have to consider suitable dishes... Analysis shows that Vietnamese cuisine has many factors and advantages to make the dishes diverse, rich and... delicious!

Back to street food. In fact, it is difficult to distinguish between street food and food served in restaurants. Street food can be understood through the way it is sold and enjoyed. Street food can be served in restaurants or on the sidewalk, but the person enjoying it must be… on the sidewalk.

The beauty of street food is that diners can feel the sight and smell of the food before enjoying it. Especially with grilled dishes, the fragrant smoke really “holds” diners back… In reality, delicious street food in Vietnam is developing very well. Without discussing the factor of violating urban and traffic regulations, it must be said that the “sidewalk economy” from cuisine has helped many people earn a living and attracted tourists.

Back to the issue of food safety, a content that although not wanted to be mentioned, must still be mentioned about recent food poisoning cases and also many cases from street food. A typical recent case is the case of 12 children in Nha Trang being poisoned after eating bread sold at the school gate and one child died. Or the case of nearly 100 people being poisoned at the end of 2023 in Hoi An also due to eating bread at a street stall...

It can be said that food safety management is difficult, and it is even more difficult for street food businesses. In big cities of our country, stepping out on the street, you can see sidewalk food stalls everywhere in many traditional markets, school gates, hospital gates, with a variety of dishes such as bread, grilled meat, donuts, sausages, etc.

Although there are regulations on food hygiene and safety for businesses, in reality it is difficult to "implement" regulations for sidewalk restaurants. Most street restaurants prepare food on the sidewalk or on carts, making it difficult to ensure hygiene conditions. Most customers are transient customers, do not buy every day and are not too "strict" about hygiene, so some vendors have the mentality of selling once and are done, without needing to keep customers.

Looking at the number of street food stalls today, it can be said that the authorities find it very difficult, or do not have enough manpower, to mobilize and control all of them. The key and most important issue is still the sense of responsibility of each person towards society. To do so, it is necessary to educate the awareness of both sellers and buyers...

In particular, to ensure your own safety, diners should avoid arbitrary habits, choose establishments that are branded, clean, airy, and registered, and avoid sidewalks with insects and dirty water...

Authorities need to regulate places of business that have been assessed for hygiene and safety. In the long term, there needs to be more sustainable solutions such as controlling the food supply for these shops...

In conclusion, it requires attention and involvement from many sides, and we must make sure that information about food poisoning cases is rare and not a daily occurrence like in the past. The food must be delicious but must create trust and assurance with tourists about safety, so that tourists do not hesitate when enjoying street food...

Source: https://congthuong.vn/do-an-duong-pho-lot-top-mon-ngon-va-tran-tro-tu-nhung-vu-ngo-doc-thuc-pham-321178.html