Street food vendors told to pack it in

• Source: Global Times
• [08:29 July 16 2010]
• Comments

By Zhang Cao

Residents wanting to roam the streets in search of something tasty with which to fill their bellies late at night will have to move indoors to satisfy their stomachs as the city is no longer allowing street food vendors to sell to hungry patrons seeking a midnight snack.

Authorities said Thursday that the vendors are being prohibited in order to ensure public health safety as food sold on the street is often unsanitary, and follows no food quality standards.

Moreover, the vendors prove as unsightly eye sores that must be rid of as the city works to improve its image to the world during the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, Lu Jianping, deputy director of Shanghai Afforestation and City Appearance and Environmental Sanitation Administration (SACAESA), told reporters Thursday morning at a press conference.

"Apart from posing as health risks to the public, the street food vendors litter the streets, tossing garbage everywhere," he said. "They also cause traffic problems, taking up too much space on the roads and corners, blocking the right of way for pedestrians.

"Many Shanghai people have made complaints about them," he added.

According to Hu Jianwen, a press officer for SACAESA, the vendors will be kept in line by patrolling chengguan.

"We will be sending chengguan to check the streets to make sure that no such vendors are continuing their business," he told the Global Times Thursday.

He added that the new regulation will also apply to restaurant owners who set tables and chairs out on the streets for customers late at night.

Hu, however, admitted that little can be done to enforce the new rule by way of penalty.

But even though chengguan cannot fine vendors, they do have the authority to confiscate their portable food carts, he said.

A man surnamed Wang, who parks himself outside a restaurant on Chongqing Road North to sell crayfish to customers every night, said that the new move is unfair to people like him that need to make a living.

"I'm not going to give in," said Wang, a native of Fujian Province, who has been selling the seafood in Shanghai for the past two years. "The chengguan will have to drive a tank, or come with guns if they want to stop me."

He added that should chengguan force him to pack up, he will only return once they leave the premises.