Constant worries about school gate snacks

Risk of food poisoning from the school gate

Popular snacks in front of school gates include grilled meat, fermented pork rolls, fried sausages, foods once known as "dirty skewers" or a series of green and red products in prepackaged packages.

Looking through the mobile vehicle crowded with students, it is easy to see hundreds of skewers of squid and fish cakes, along with a can of cooking oil and unlabeled plastic bags of food.

According to the Food Safety Department ( Ministry of Health ), it is necessary to strengthen inspection of this item because there are "dirty skewers" that often use ingredients of unknown origin, spoiled or spoiled meat or poor quality frozen food; are marinated with additives, colorants, and spices to mask the rancid smell or increase artificial richness; use cooking oil that is fried many times, creating substances harmful to health.

In addition, soft drinks, spicy sticks, and coconut jelly with shockingly cheap prices, from 2,000 to 10,000 VND, also attract students. Most of these have no labels or have foreign labels.

MSc. Ngo Xuan Dung, former lecturer of the Faculty of Food Technology, Vietnam Academy of Agriculture , warned that the more colorful the food, the higher the risk of using chemical colorants, and the more serious the impact on human health.

Protect student health

There have been many cases of students getting food poisoning from eating snacks at school gates. Data from the Food Safety Department shows that 70% - 80% of street food, including school gate snacks, are identified as contaminated.

The figures show that stricter measures need to be taken in managing these items to protect students' health.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lam, former Deputy Director of the National Institute of Nutrition , to limit food poisoning incidents affecting children's health, more active participation from authorities and alertness from parents and students regarding these products is needed.

It is necessary to regularly inspect and handle street vendors who violate food safety and hygiene and deliberately encroach on sidewalks and roads to sell their goods. In addition, propaganda work on food safety also needs to be strengthened.

Many students are given money by their parents to buy breakfast or snacks, while they do not have enough knowledge to distinguish the benefits and harms of food of unknown origin. Even though their parents have warned them, many students do not have enough courage to overcome the "temptation" when they see their friends eating it.

Therefore, schools need to promote propaganda andeducation for students on food hygiene and safety; include it in school rules and regulations. At the same time, it is necessary to have measures to control, remind, and coordinate with parents in managing and handling students who violate the rules.

Recently, the Department of Food Safety (Ministry of Health) issued Official Dispatch No. 532/ATTP-NDTT requesting the Hanoi Department of Health to proactively coordinate with functional units in the area to strengthen supervision and implement food safety control measures; organize inspections and supervision of compliance with food safety regulations, strictly control the source of raw materials, food additives, frying oils, especially for grilled meat, skewers, fast food... at food service establishments, street food, food around schools.

Promote propaganda and dissemination of food safety knowledge, measures to ensure food safety and prevent food poisoning for owners and food service and street food vendors.

Educate consumers, especially students, to choose clean restaurants, prioritize places with clean grilling areas, staff wearing gloves, avoid restaurants with unusually colored skewers, bad odors, or dark, residue-filled frying oil, limit eating in dusty areas, places with lots of traffic, smoke, and dust, and do not ensure food safety and hygiene.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/noi-lo-thuong-truc-voi-qua-vat-cong-truong-20250409143835629.htm