The city's Food Safety Management Authority has also issued 10 criteria for evaluating street vendors' food safety.
According to the food safety authority's recent plan to improve the quality of street food in 2018 and 2019, certification stickers will be given to street food stalls that have met food safety requirements, The Gioi Tiep Thi reports.
"It's hard for street food's quality to meet restaurants' standards. However, there should be a scale to evaluate these types of food and ensure they meet an acceptable standard that guarantees public's health is protected," said Pham Khanh Phong Lan, the director of Ho Chi Minh City's Food Safety Management Authority.
Therefore, the food safety authority has established 10 criteria in order to evaluate street vendors. The ten criteria are: the location of the business has to be clean and isolated from polluted sources; food has to be placed at least 60 centimeters from the ground; food has to be covered and stored properly; cooked food and uncooked food have to be placed separately; tools exposed to cooked food have to be clean; vendor has enough clean water and ice; vendors preparing the food have to go through medical examinations; vendors have to be trained about food safety; vendors should keep track of the sources of their ingredients; rubbish bags have to be hygienic.
The Food Safety Management Authority is also calling for donations to help vendors have access to clean tools, food safety training, and medical examinations. Street vendors who fail to meet the 10 requirements will be warned. If the violation is serious, vendors will be forced to close their businesses.
