Street food has huge potential
By JOHN B VAREY
THE term “street food” describes a wide range of ready-to-eat food and beverages sold and sometimes prepared in public places, notably streets.
Street food and fast-food enterprises differ in variety, environment, marketing techniques and ownership.
Street food often reflects traditional local cultures and exists in an endless variety.
Vendors are usually located outdoors or under a roof which is easily accessible from the street.
Their success depends exclusively on location and word-of-mouth promotion.
Street food businesses are usually owned and operated by individuals or families but benefits from their trade extend throughout the local economy.
By contrast, fast-food outlets specialise in fewer foods, usually operate indoors, involve heavy investments and extensive marketing strategies.
Owners usually have a franchise arrangement with a transnational company which also controls the provision of raw materials, the menu and the mode of preparation.
Profits from sales generated by foreign-controlled fast-food chains often leave the country.
Urban population growth has stimulated a rise in the number of street food vendors in our towns and cities.
Street food micro-industries are vital for the economic planning and development of PNG towns and cities.
The vendors’ contribution to the economies of developing countries has been vastly underestimated and neglected.
However, statistics for some places do exist.
In the Indonesian city of Bogor, annual sales of street food amount to US$67 million (Cohen, 1986) which is a relatively significant figure considering that most of the earnings are generated locally and thereby promote economic self-sufficiency.
It would make an interesting study to have a statistics of PNG street food and compute its annual sales.
The significance of the street food industry has often been ignored because it is considered part of the informal sector and there is a school of thought that this will disappear with modernisation and economic development.
On the contrary, the informal sector, including street food industries, appears to be growing faster than the formal sector in the urban areas of many countries.
The rapid rise in urban populations and increasing awareness of the limited employment generated by large-scale industries should challenge planners to acknowledge the importance of the informal sector, street vending and street food.
Each street food enterprise is generally small in size, requires relatively simple skills, basic facilities and small amounts of capital, yet because of their high numbers, they have considerable potential to generate income and employment.
Some of our citizens who, because of economic and social changes or individual characteristics, have difficulty obtaining jobs in the formal sector can and have found work in the street food industry.
The street food operation often involves entire families in the procurement of raw materials, preparation and cooking as well as the sale of food.
Worldwide, women play a very large role in the street food industry.
In spite of the benefits of street food trade, vendors may have to work long hours under adverse conditions and the risks are borne exclusively by the seller.
Vendors can face problems with police, local officials and also criminals who often demand “protection money”.
In addition, their profession is often considered to be of low status.
Street food is generally cheap and most customers are from the lower-income group.
That said, the food can still be nutritious and of excellent value.
Vendors are able to charge less as they have less overhead costs.
For the low-income worker, street food and snacks are essential.
In other parts of the world, as well as in both rural and urban PNG, workers, students and others have their first meal of the day from street food vendors.
Although in-depth nutritional studies related to street food has not yet been completed, it is believed that many low-income families would be worse off if there were no street food vendors to serve fast, inexpensive food.
Consumers who are attracted by convenience and low prices may overlook aspects of hygiene or sanitation.
In some cases, these customers lack an understanding of proper food-handling practices and the potential for food borne diseases.
Several types of food such as boiled and fried peanuts are good sources of protein and fat as are barbequed chicken and mutton, fried fish and other local meat and fish dishes.
Although some street food and drinks may have been found to be contaminated and thereby pose a health risk, in general, very few cases of food poisoning have been found.
It may be that illnesses occur but are not reported to medical authorities.
It has also been suggested that individuals develop immunities to food borne diseases, although detailed studies are needed to confirm immunity development.
In PNG, street food is not given the official recognition it deserves although it is a development issue of national interest.
The negative attitude of officials towards street food vendors frequently reflects concerns about poor hygiene and the spread of disease.
The authorities also lack staff to monitor the industry and enforce regulations.
Vendors may be seen as a hindrance to the “modernisation” of the traditional food distribution system because they compete with licensed eating establishments that have considerably higher operating costs.
Furthermore, there is the weak assumption that bigger is better.
Finally, vendors may obstruct traffic in the centres of increasingly congested cities.
This has led some governments to attempt to remove vendors from certain sections of a city, usually without success.
It would be interesting to assess the positive and negative aspects of street food but obviously the socio-economic significance of street foods has been ignored.
Before any regulation can be established for street vendors, the local authorities need to recognise the importance of street food.
The ability of vendors to produce cheap and nutritious, traditional meals must be safeguarded, encouraged and assisted.
Rules and regulations for safe food manufacturing need to be enforced and information and education must provide the basis for enforcement.
There is a mistaken assumption that food contamination is inevitable in street foods, yet millions of people depend on this source of nutrition.
Vendors know that consumers watch the way food is prepared and would notice whether the work area and vendor’s hands and clothes are clean and tidy.
They have everything to gain by appealing to customers with improved practices learned through training in nutrition and hygiene.
Acknowledgement of the need for research and assistance to improve the standards of street food activities is needed.
The benefits of street food include use of local resources, income for vendors, varied and nutritious food, inexpensive, accessible services, quality upgrades through inspections and licensing and meet social needs.
The problems include contamination and poor hygiene, not a recognised industry, lack of social status, non-licensing system, ineffective and arbitrary inspection and traffic congestion.
However, regulations can make street food safer.
Once policy-makers have decided that street food are here to stay, there are many small ways to make life easier for both vendors and inspectors while ensuring that food is safer for the consumer.
Fair licensing and inspections, combined with educational drives, are the best long-term measures to safeguard the public.
Regulations for vendors should be realistic, attainable and properly enforced; prohibiting the street food trade or setting impossible requirements drives vendors to practice unsanitary measures secretly, thus lessening control even more.
Small credit funds could help vendors renew or improve their stalls.
For example, portable aluminum table tops could replace wooden boards which are very difficult to clean and heavy to carry.
The current Digicel mobile phone informal street vending prepaid card sales portable structures is a good model to adopt.
Customers and consumers also have a role to play in association with government authorities, vendors’ associations and scientists.
Participation and advocacy by consumers can help to prevent food borne diseases.
Better consumer information and education regarding food hygiene can help authorities to take quick remedial action and preventive measures.
The consumers’ needs should be taken into account when establishing policies and regulations.
Street foods deserve the attention of policy-makers and vendors should be given opportunities to improve their situation and develop their enterprises into urban food.
There is a huge potential for street food industries to contribute to the growth of urban economy and the country.
Developing a vibrant street food industry is not rocket-science, and neither is it an inherent evil.
It is free-market economics, and governments would behoove themselves to ask not what they can do against street vending, but what street vending can do for their economies.

Note: The author works with the Informal Sector Committee of the Consultative Implementation & Monitoring Council.
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