CHO to monitor ambulant vendors
The City Health Office (CHO) is now monitoring ambulant vendors outside the schools’ premises to make sure they are selling clean and nutritious food for students as enrollment for school year 2010-2011 started.
This after the Department of Education (DedEd) appealed to the CHO to monitor walk-in vendors because they might post health problems for students.
DepEd regional director Mildred Garay said that CHO should control these ambulant vendors in selling food outside the schools to avoid diseases such as amoeba, diarrhea, hepatitis, food poisoning and other gastritis illnesses.
Acting to the appeal of DepEd, CHO head Dr. Urminico Baronda said he already dispatched several of his sanitary officers to inspect and coordinate with some ambulant vendors here.
The city health officer admitted that some of these stuffs could be a health risk on the public since mostly of these food lacks refrigeration and often construed as having lack of cleanliness and freshness.
“Street food required high levels of heat or should be cooked well to ensure that any bacteria are killed. It should also be well-covered”, he stressed.
Common street food being sold by the ambulant vendors are fish ball, halo-halo, barbeque, juices, ice candy, and some native food products.
“These food are delicious to eat but we need also to take necessary action to prevent these diseases especially parasitism,” he said.
Baronda also advised the parents to be particular of the food their children take.
