Mingkaman Town Council in Awerial County, Lakes State, has banned preparation of street foods over health concern.
In the town, several food vendors cook meals by the road, an activity the town authorities believe is unhygienic, especially during the rainy season which often brings about water-bourne diseases.
Most of the makeshift restaurants in Mingkaman at located along the Bahr el Ghazal Highway.
Abraham Deng, town clerk for Mingkaman, says the vendors should construct kitchens to prepare food before they are served in the ‘open-air’ restaurants.
“I am m asking food dealers that fried fish or meals cooked for sale along the highways to stop such practices to avoid contamination of food. This is for hygiene reasons,” Deng told Mingkaman FM, adding that the ban took effect on May 23.
Reacting to the order, some food vendors, who spoke to this media outlet, admitted to cooking meals by the roadside but argued that there is no space for erecting kitchens.
“This is a vey good concern from the town council. However, the nature of the shops that we rent really failed us to do something about this situation. We cook at the roadside not because we like it. We cook here because don’t have space to erect kitchens, ” said Ajah Deng.
For her part, another food vendor Kiden Eliza said:
“As you can see now, there is no space and if I use this dining space as cooking space as well, the customers will run away because it will be hot and the space will not be enough.”