Street vendors outside schools a food safety problem – DepEd exec

One of the biggest challenges in ensuring food safety in schools is how to regulate the ambulant street vendors selling food to students just outside school grounds, an official of the Department of Education (DepEd) said.

"Ang problema talaga is not all schools have canteens... A lot of children buy from ambulant vendors," DepEd Health and Nutrition Center Director Dr. Ella Naliponguit told GMA News Online on Monday.

She said that the department does not have direct jurisdiction over the vendors since they usually sell outside school premises.

Just last week, hundreds of students fell ill and had to be hospitalized after eating durian and mangosteen candies sold by ambulant vendors in CARAGA region.

The incident pushed Surigao del Sur governor Johnny Pimentel to prohibit ambulant vendors from selling near schools.

LGUs' duty

Naliponguit said that local government units (LGUs) are the ones responsible for regulating ambulant vendors. Republic Act No. 10611 or the Food Safety Act, states, "The LGU shall also be responsible for street food sale, including ambulant vending."

She cited Davao and Naga cities as having the best practices in controlling street vendors.

GMA News Online has reached out to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for comment.

Naliponguit also pointed out that there is no law in the Philippines regulating food hawkers. She urged the amendment of the Code on Sanitation of the Philippines to include stricter rules regarding ambulant vending.

The code, which was signed by President Ferdinand Marcos on December 23, 1975, only mentions that ambulant food vendors should only sell bottled drinks, biscuits, and confectionaries.

"It is prohibited for food vendors to sell food that requires the use of utensils," the Code states.

School canteens

Meanwhile, Naliponguit said that the DepEd does not have a big problem when it comes to ensuring food safety in school canteens. The agency already has regulations in place that are stated in the following memorandum orders:

• Department of Education Order 52 (2008) on "Compliance with DepEd Policies on Food Safety in Schools"
• DepEd Order No. 8 (2007) on "Revised Implementing Guidelines on the Operation and Management of School Canteens in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools"
• DepEd Order No. 14 (2005) on "Instructions to Ensure Consumption of Nutritious and Safe Foods in Schools"

Health personnel from each DepEd division checks on the schools, usually at the start of the school year, to ensure their adherence to the regulations. — BM, GMA News