San Juan E. M. (2017). Food safety guidelines on ambulant vending of foods (Unpublished master's thesis). Public Management Development Program, Development Academy of the Philippines.

Public Management Development Program Middle Managers Class Batch 12 Thesis (MMC)--Development Academy of the Philippines.

In the Food Safety Act of 2013, the Local Government Units (LGUs) were mandated to ensure the safety of foods sold within their jurisdiction, including street vended foods. The Re-Entry Project (ReP) reviewed existing laws and ordinances pertaining to the control and regulation of foods sold by vendors in Mandaluyong City, where the ReP was implemented. It also developed the food safety guidelines on ambulant vending of foods for recommendation to LGUs which they can use as a tool in the implementation of their mandate. The ReP reviewed existing ordinances on food safety guidelines, a close collaboration with the concerned LGU department/section was carried out to determine existing local ordinances on street food vending and status of its implementation in the LGU including feedback, recommendations or comments from stakeholders. The "Food Safety Guidelines on Ambulant Vending of Foods" was developed based on local and international food standards and regulations, and on existing city ordinances, for submission and review of the LGU. The ReP also aimed to conduct awareness trainings/seminars on food safety to concerned LGU departments/sections including inspectors from LGU and barangay, school authorities, and ambulant street food vendors. One of the major outputs of the ReP was the development of food safety guidelines for ambulant food vending and was primarily intended to the LGUs including city's health unit or barangay health centers and other LGU units in the implementation of their mandate as stated in the Food Safety Act of 2013. During a meeting and interviews, the ambulant street vendors were given appreciation on safe handling of foods, and the developed guidelines that will be used by food inspectors, and enable street vendors to improve their manner of food preparation and selling. The NGOs, DOH, funding agencies, and NFA - FDC will be able to use the findings during inspection and the developed guidelines in preparing other ordinances and circulars pertaining to safe street food vending. The school children and adults who are the usual consumers of street vended foods will benefit from the ReP as they will be buying safe foods prepared by ambulant vendors. The outcome of the ReP is that safe street foods are produced by ambulant street vendors,first, is ONE identified LGU, which is Mandaluyong; while the impact of the ReP is that safe street foods are produced by ambulant vendors is more than 50% of LGUs. The impact and outcome are the results of effective implementation of the food safety guidelines. The effectiveness was determined through results of onsite inspection of the selling area of the vendors, whether the practices of the vendors in preparing and selling of foods have improved after undergoing an awareness training on safe food handling. Also, the monitoring skills of the inspectors would improve as vendors gained more knowledge and experience during inspection. Another measure of determining effectiveness was by comparing the results of analyses through microbiological tests conducted on selected foods sold by vendors before and after training and implementation of the guidelines. To ensure sustainability of the ReP, there must be a monitoring plan to determine of the introduced intervention, such as good practices of food handling b vendors, had been observed, and that the city and barangay inspectors were conducting inspections on a regular basis using the developed Guidelines and Inspection Checklist. Thus,sustainability of the ReP can be attained through strict implementation of the guidelines by the city and barangay enforcers or inspectors, and the cooperation of the vendors.