A Scoping Review of Studies Evaluating the Healthiness of Street Food Vendors

Abstract

Purpose of review: This scoping review investigates the available tools for monitoring the healthiness of the food sold at street food outlets globally.

Recent findings: Several tools were identified that have been used to evaluate the healthiness of street food outlets; however, these tools are not applicable globally, do not provide simple measures for evaluating the healthiness of foods sold, and generally have not been used across more than one study. The development of a comprehensive tool for measuring the healthiness of the street food environment that can be used across different jurisdictions and with different levels of resourcing is essential in order to understand the current street food environment and how it changes over time. As a major source of food in low- and middle-income countries globally, the street food environment is important to understand in order to know how it might help address the growing burden of diet-related diseases.

Keywords: Food environment; Healthfulness of street food; Informal food environment; Ready-to-eat food; Scoping review; Street food; Street food assessment tool.