Raising Food Safety to Street Food Vendors in Urban Area: The Langkawi Charter on Urban Health

Abstract

In Malaysia, urbanization increases urban population through rural-urban migration and has caused urban food concerns due to the increasing demand for food as well as changes in the eating behavior of the urban population (Ali & Abdullah., 2012; Habib et al., 2011). Malaysians enjoy eating out more due to time constraints and an abundance of restaurants and fast-food chains (Vijayakumar & Amalina., 2018 and Sidik & Rampal., 2009). Besides, with the increasing number of working mothers, urbanization, and the increases in household income, eating out is the primary choice for most people as they spend more time at work and less time preparing food at home (Ceyhun Sezgin & Sanlier, 2016). Street food trends on “world food” stems from the recent popularity of cooking shows, travel and food shows and social media influences. A hawker or street vendor can be described as a trader selling any merchandise, water, food, or items of everyday use to a community using a temporary stall, structure or a cart, in a street, lane, sidewalk, footpath, public park or any other public places (Panwar & Garg, 2015). The existence of hawking activities in Malaysia can be traced as far back as the days before independence. During that time, street vendors could be seen only in primary locations such as town centres. This can be seen through the creation of small businesses selling local food and drinks such as “cendol'", shaved ice, banana fritters, fish crackers and many more on the streets and along the sidewalk.