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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 27 Aug) – Another food safety orientation for street vendors here will be conducted next week.
Robert Oconer, sanitation chief at the City Health Office, said during the iSpeak Forum Thursday that this will be held on September 3, 1-5 p.m. at the Davao City Recreation Center.
He said that he is expecting about the same number of participants from the last time a similar food safety orientation was held in July. This rerun of the training will accommodate the other vendors who weren’t able to participate in the first orientation. Oconer said there were 9,000 street vendors who expressed interest in the seminar but only 4,700 could be accommodated in the venue.
The process of taking ID photos and data of the vendors from the first batch have already been finished and the release of these IDs are set mid September through barangay officials, Oconer said.
He added that they are reaching out to barangays to spread the word to ensure that these remaining street vendors will not miss out on this second edition of the training. There will be no third.
“I hope that food safety will be improved after these trainings,” he said, adding that if safety isn’t improved, IDs will be revoked. He added that if they can’t improve food safety, street vendors should change their merchandise from food to other useful items.
This orientation will cover guidelines for the ambulant food vendors who will be required to wear large IDs and health certificates by October. Last month, the mayor said that vendors without these large IDs will be apprehended by the police, following the food poisoning incident in the Caraga region.