Food Safety Standards and Edible Ice at Lor-Loei Walking Street Market in Mueang District, Loei Province

Abstract

Background: Food safety is extremely important to consumers, but there is a chance of contamination from hygiene in the production process, transportation, poor storage conditions, and entrepreneurs, including food servers. Most common places to sell food in Thailand are flea markets and stalls scattered in various areas around the country. Therefore, the researcher studied the safety situation of food and ice sold at Lo Loei Walking Street Market, Mueang District, Loei Province, Thailand, which is a secondary city that supports natural and cultural tourism in Thailand.

Objectives:  The survey research aimed to study the general characteristics of food vendors and study the food safety standards and tube ice situation at the walking street Lor-Loei market in Mueang district, Loei Province, from January to February 2024.

Methods: This was a survey study from January to February 2024 by using simple random sampling among a sample of 145 food vendors who gave consent from a population of 232 vendors with a 95 percent confidence level. Then, two samples per stall were randomly collected between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. every Saturday, for a total of 290 samples. Food testing and analysis were performed after sample collection was completed on the same day, using a coliform bacteria contamination test kit (SI-2) in 162 cooked food samples and 26 factory-made tube ice samples, a borax test kit in 40 food samples, a sodium hydrosulfite test kit in 10 food samples, a salicylic acid test kit in 10 food samples, a formalin test kit in 18 food samples, and a MJPK test kit for pesticide residues in 24 vegetables and fruits, respectively.

Results: The results showed that the sample group of food store operators was mostly female by 70.34%, with an average age of 42.32 years. They had been selling for an average of 4.61 years, and the source of most raw materials was from Makro and Morning Market at 45.52 and 39.31%, respectively. Results of a safety survey of food and cubes of ice from a factory that sold 145 food stalls found that the panels sampled did not pass the standards as ice cube panels, cooked food stalls, and meatball stalls by 100, 35.80, and 15.00%, respectively. Besides, when considering the types of contamination, all 6 types were found to not pass the standard, especially coliform bacteria contamination in tubes of ice from the factory and in cooked food, 100 and 35.80% from 26 and 162 samples, and borax contamination was found in 7.50% from 40 samples.

Conclusions: Food safety showed the highest level of coliform bacteria contamination in tube ice and food. Therefore, relevant agencies the handling of the problem requires an integration of efforts among relevant parties, including national and local government organizations, the private sector, and consumers.