Street Food Vendors

Street food vendors play an important role in food security. They feed the larger urban populace with nutritious, cheap, easily accessible and ready to eat foods. Much as we applaud all these benefits; they are potentially a public health risk as they may pass illnesses to it through food contamination. With the findings indicating an overwhelming disease burden, including those of faecal-oral route illnesses, followed by lack of proper health seeking behaviour, compounded by poor working environment; and the overwhelming lack of food handling knowledge which affects their attitude and practice, the danger they pose cannot be over emphasised. The public, especially the consumers of street food will find it intriguing to know what they expose themselves to. The book will form baseline information regarding disease burden in street food vendors to other researchers in the same field. To the consumers of street foods, may be it is high time you take charge of your health. To the custodian of public health, ensure a distance eye on street food vendors' activities, who are actually not only here to stay but to swell in their numbers if the prevailing economic realities hold.