Street food in the national agenda of food and nutrition security: an essay for sanitary qualification in Brazil

In 2014, the World Cup will be staged in Brazil. Is Brazil able to ensure safe street food is on offer? This paper seeks to elicit reflection on some problems relating to the sale of street food, thereby contributing to highlight this theme in the food security agenda in Brazil. The scope of this study is exclusively street food. Care is taken not to reduce the broader concepts of food security and the importance of sanitary and hygienic handling is stressed as one of the core components of food and nutrition security. In this context the following aspects are discussed: the credibility of the official data on insanitary outbreaks related to street food; street food security compared to that in other eating environments; and the training of people to modify inadequate food handling practices. Thus, in the discussion about problems in the street food market it is essential to improve the quantity and quality of the training of food handlers in order to implement food and nutrition security as promoting the human right to adequate food and ensure that the topic is urgently included on the national calendar of public health debates.