'Once you get poisoned, you're scared for life.'

"It's always better to be thorough!"

In mid-April, during a period of intense heat in Ho Chi Minh City, after eating out, Ms. Chuc Linh experienced abdominal pain and frequent diarrhea. This condition lasted for two days without improvement, so she went to the hospital for examination and was diagnosed with an intestinal infection.

"I think I ate something unclean outside, because in this hot weather, food spoils easily and food poisoning is common, compromising food safety and hygiene. For several days, I felt unwell, couldn't eat or drink anything, and had no motivation to work. I was terrified!" she recalled.

With the hot weather, many people are concerned about food safety and hygiene at street food stalls and vendors.

The incident served as a wake-up call, prompting Ms. Linh to pay more attention to her food choices. From then on, she minimized buying food from street vendors and sidewalk stalls, fearing a recurrence of health problems and food poisoning.

Ms. Chúc Linh said that currently, she mainly buys food and drinks at large, reputable establishments. If she buys drinks from street vendors, she chooses to buy from familiar places she has frequented for many years, avoiding unfamiliar stalls or vendors who move around frequently due to the potential risks.

"I'm also very careful about the ice I use in my drinks these days. The ice at street stalls, in many places, is of unknown origin, not clean, and drinking it can easily cause stomach aches and sore throats. In general, with this hot weather, it's better to be as careful as possible because I've been through this once and I'm too scared," she added.

Hot weather and high temperatures cause bacteria to grow, making food spoil more easily than usual.

Kim Thoa (25 years old, residing in District 8) said that in early April, she took a friend to a traditional medicine clinic in District 6 for a check-up. While waiting, she was approached by a woman selling sticky rice cakes with pork sausage.

Normally, Ms. Thoa said she rarely buys food from mobile vendors like that because of the high risk of bacterial contamination and unknown origin. Not to mention, she's read a lot of information about food poisoning cases from spoiled pork sausage, so she's worried that if she buys food from street vendors and experiences any health problems, she wouldn't know how to hold the seller accountable.

"So I refused to buy anything from her. But she kept insisting, so I bought two portions of cake for 20,000 dong. To be honest, I bought them to support her, not to eat. On such hot days, it's better to be careful," she said.

If anything goes wrong, the restaurant will bear the brunt of it.

Mr. L., the owner of a street food stall selling noodle soup in District 5 for over 5 years, said that maintaining food safety and hygiene is always the top priority for his stall, because if any problems occur, the stall will bear the brunt of it.

Many people say they are limiting their consumption of street food at this time.

With the hot weather, he pays even more attention to this issue, as food left outside easily spoils. Selling from morning to night, Mr. L. prepares enough ingredients for the whole day, but always keeps them in the refrigerator to prevent spoilage.

"I only bring out what I need, I don't leave all the ingredients on the counter from morning till night. If I did that, the food wouldn't taste good anymore, not to mention the quality wouldn't be guaranteed and could easily lead to unpleasant incidents," the owner said.

Meanwhile, a woman selling sticky rice cakes with pork sausage in District 8 said that she only sells in the mornings each day, until everything is sold out. Although she sells from a mobile stall, she tries to cover her food carefully, and uses fresh ingredients each day instead of keeping them overnight to sell again the next day.

The restaurant owner also pays attention to preserving food during the hot weather.

"If the goods don't sell, my family will eat them; throwing them away would be a waste. So I treat it like I'm selling to my own family. Selling requires integrity. I sell in this area and everyone knows me. If anything goes wrong, it will tarnish my reputation, and how will I be able to do business?" she said.

"We will deal with this decisively!"

Ho Chi Minh City is currently in the "Month of Action for Food Safety 2024" with the theme: "Continuing to ensure food security and safety in the new situation". The month of action takes place from April 15 to May 15, 2024.

Associate Professor Pham Khanh Phong Lan, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety, advises people to be more cautious about food hygiene and safety during this hot weather.

She stated that, especially for street food vendors, particularly mobile stalls, food preservation facilities are limited, and dishwashing is difficult. Furthermore, their frequent movement increases the risk of bacterial contamination, compromising food safety.

According to Ms. Lan, with 15,400 street food vendors in Ho Chi Minh City, the Ho Chi Minh City Food Safety Department focuses on raising awareness among them through training and providing hygienic cooking equipment. They are also among those whose food samples are regularly taken for testing. During inspections, if any violations causing food safety issues are detected, the Department will take decisive action.

"There have been cases where we discovered people making sushi, cooking rice the day before and then rolling and cutting it up to sell to students the next morning. There are also cases where people reheat leftover steamed rice cakes the next day to sell them again, or sell pork sausage that has become slimy. The risk of food poisoning and food safety and hygiene violations is very high," warned Ms. Pham Khanh Phong Lan.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thoi-tiet-tphcm-nang-nong-nhieu-nguoi-ne-hang-rong-bi-ngo-doc-mot-lan-so-luon-185240424142402411.htm