Macronutrient Status of Street Foods

Abstract

Street foods are quite common in urban areas. Several varieties of street foods are available to the public and quality of such ready-to-eat foods is primarily important from public health point of view. The selected (popular) street foods from various categories were subjected to quality analysis during the time of investigation, in Dharwad city in terms of nutrients. All the selected street foods differed significantly with respect to macro nutrients. Sweet items supplied more energy (311 Kcal) followed by non-vegetarian foods (305 Kcal) and least from fast foods (239 Kcal). The protein and fat content of non-vegetarian foods was more followed by fried foods, while cereal foods supplied the least. The carbohydrate content of sweet items was more (49.46 g) followed by fried foods (42.09 g) and lowest from non-vegetarian foods (24.08 g). The fried and fast foods supplied more fibre and non-vegetarian and sweet items supplied less fibre in the group. The per rupee contribution of energy was highest from sweet items (76 Kcal) followed by fried foods (68 Kcal,) cereal foods (57 Kcal) while lowest from fast foods (37 Kcal). The protein and fat content of fried foods was more. The carbohydrate content of sweet items (12.37 g) and fibre of cereal foods (2.36 g) was found to be on higher side in the street foods. Introduction Street foods are defined as ready to eat foods and beverages prepared and sold by vendors in the streets and other similar public places. The popularity of street food vending is spreading rapidly all over the world due to several reasons viz., economic and industrial developments followed by tremendous increase in urban population at an average annual growth rate of 4.2 per cent, which is likely to continue in the years to come. Besides an increase in the number of working women over the last decades, from 76.2 to 105.7 million, employments far away from the home, modern life style compels both men and women to go to work giving less time to cook at home. Nevertheless, tremendous growth of small nuclear families have resulted in the rapid proliferation of street foods as these act as convenient source of food. The street foods being quickly served, tasty and available at reasonable rates and offering a variety of traditional foods have become an attraction of many customers. The street foods provide considerable amounts of valuable nutrients, depending on the raw ingredients used. Purchase of such ready-to-eat foods often preoccupied with food price and convenience rather than with food safety, quality and hygiene. Persons who vend the street foods are often free from taxes, thus selling what they want and few existing regulations on the subject are not usually enforced. Though the Street foods, with substantial amounts of nutrient contribution, are also likely to deteriorate in their quality. Hence, the present study is undertaken to study the macro nutrient status of street foods.