Diarrhea germs were found in 6 foods on the sidewalk, including Chatapti-Cholamuri

Excessive Escherichia coli (E-coli), Salmonella spp and Vibrio spp bacteria were found in 6 street foods of the capital, including Chatapti, Cholamuri. These bacteria can cause various problems in human stomach including diarrhea.

This information came out at the Bangladesh Safe Food Authority (BFSA) research results notification seminar on Sunday (June 9) morning.

The results of this study were presented in the training room of BFSA. The head of the Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Research Laboratory of Dhaka University and the head of the research team Dr. Md. Latiful Bari and his team conducted this research.

The research team conducted this study on chatpatti, cholamuri, sandwich, sugarcane juice, aloe vera syrup and mixed salad. 450 samples of these street foods were collected from 37 zones of Dhaka North and South City Corporation and tested.

The results of the study showed that on an average, 72 million E-coli, 750 Salmonella and 750 Vibrio bacteria were found in each plate. In other words, 7 crore 2 lakh 1 thousand 500 bacteria were found in one plate. 7.5 lakh 40 thousand E-coli, 2 thousand Salmonella and 3 million Vibrio were found in Cholamuri. 2 thousand E-coli, 2 thousand Salmonella and 160 thousand Vibrio were found in the sandwich. 65,000 E-coli, 17,000 salmonella and 13,000 Vibrio were found in sugarcane juice. 56,000 E-coli, 18,000 salmonella and 14,000 Vibrio were found in aloe vera extract. E-coli 1,800, Salmonella 510 and Vibrio 300 were found in the mix salad.

For every 10,000 people who eat these street foods, 2 people get sick due to E-coli bacteria, 4 people get sick due to Salmonella bacteria and 1 person gets sick due to Vibrio bacteria.

In the seminar Latiful Bari said, due to contaminated water, dirty towels, unclean hands, dusty environment, such germs are mixing in food. Due to lack of knowledge and awareness about health and sanitation by vendors, germs are getting into food and juice. People are getting infected with bacteria like E-coli, Salmonella and Vibrio by eating various street foods. But not getting sick. It is not known why people are not getting sick. However, to make street food safe, emphasis should be placed on training and daily monitoring of vendors.

At that time, Director General of National Consumer Rights Protection Directorate AHM Safikuzzaman said that the number of food licenses in each district and who is selling food outside the scope of this license should be brought under scrutiny.