Traders urged to practice utmost care in product preparation

Filipinos’ natural affinity for street foods is evident in the large number of vendors peddling such fare in alleys and even along major thoroughfares across the country.

Reports, however, have time and again warned the public that the food sold in streets may pose high risk to one’s safety.

A more recent study conducted by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the German-funded Center for International Migration and Development on Food Safety even revealed that the street foods sold in parts of Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Laguna and the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, were found to have a high contamination of pathogens like salmonella and E. coli.

But this is understandable. After all, one is not entirely certain of the sanitary measures that were observed in the handling of food.

However, what proves to be more alarming and worrisome is the fact that the incidence of pathogen and bacteria contamination is not limited to street foods alone.

Previous reports have shown that some products that can be bought off supermarket shelves, like milk, were found to have traces of melamine—an industrial chemical which can cause bladder and kidney stones and can eventually lead to bladder cancer and acute kidney failure.

And there are several more: certain brands of candies were found to contain a carcinogenic chemical such as formaldehyde, while some brands of peanut butter and noodles were contaminated with salmonella.

This was why a number of products have already been recalled from the market, resulting in consumers demanding for their respective governments to enforce stricter food safety regulations and guidelines.

Cause for alarm

But a bigger cause for alarm now would be reports stating that bacterial contamination has gone beyond food products to include certain medicines.

In fact, a recent test revealed that bacteria can be found in several herbal cough remedies at levels beyond the safety standards set by the Philippine FDA, and thus, can be harmful to the body if ingested.

Ingestion of high levels of aerobic bacteria cause a number of potential adverse effects, ranging from an upset stomach to more serious symptoms such as fever and gastrointestinal symptoms including vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea, which in severe cases, could lead to life-threatening dehydration.

Some groups are also said to be at greater risk for bacterial infections, given their age or unhealthy immune system. These include young children, pregnant women and their fetuses, seniors or the elderly, cancer patients and HIV patients.

Obviously, most of these contamination cases involved bacteria that will always be present in our environment and thus, will continuously be “health threats and disease vectors.” As it is, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have died due to bacterial infections which can easily invade the body in several ways.

So what do all these data tell us? What should we do?

Consumers like you are advised to always be wary and discerning of the products that you buy and always ensure that these come only from reliable and trusted manufacturers.

Manufacturers for their part are meanwhile urged to practice utmost care in the preparation and storage of their products to ensure that buyers get only the safest products in the market.