Street food in Maputo, Mozambique: Availability and nutritional value of homemade foods

Abstract

Background: A nutrition transition is occurring in the urban areas of developing countries, where street food makes an important contribution to daily food intake. Aim: We aimed to characterise street food offer in Maputo, Mozambique, and to evaluate the nutritional composition of the most common homemade foods. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014. Streets in the surroundings (500 m buffer) of randomly selected public transport stops in KaMpfumu district, Maputo, were canvassed to identify all street food vending sites (n ¼ 968). Information regarding vending site characteristics and the food offered was gathered through interview and observation. Samples (n ¼ 80) of the most common homemade foods were collected for laboratorial analysis. Results: Most street food vending sites identified were stationary (77.4%) and sold exclusively industrial food (51.9%). Frequency of fruit, beverages and food other than fruit was 24.5%, 32.5% and 73.9%, respectively. Fried cakes were the most energy-dense (430 kcal/100 g), and richest in fats (21.0g/100 g) and carbohydrates (53.4 g/100 g). The richest sources of protein were the stewed meat/fish/ liver dishes (10.7-11.6 g/100 g). Fried cakes showed the lowest sodium and potassium content (90 mg/100 g and 81 mg/ 100 g, respectively) whereas hamburgers exhibited the highest content of those micronutrients (455 mg/100 g and 183 mg/100 g, respectively). Stewed liver dishes presented the highest sodium/potassium ratio (11.95). Fried snacks presented the highest trans-fatty acid content (0.20 g/100 g). Conclusions: Street food in Maputo is abundant and scattered throughout the urban district, exhibiting high variability in the nutritional composition of homemade foods. Public health policies should be targeted to improve the street food offer, promoting nutrient-dense foods and the reduction of added salt.

Street food in Eastern Europe: a perspective from an urban environment in Moldova

“…Industrial wafers and biscuits presented the highest energy density (approximately 20•9 kJ/g), possibly reflecting a high sugar and fat content (30) , as previously observed in samples of street food in Dushanbe, Tajikistan (26) . Although the free sugar content was not discriminated in this study, they may have a high sugar content, which is line with existing literature on street food composition (10,25,26,31) .…”

“…The primary sources of protein were home-made savoury pastries, mostly meat-based, in line with the reported trend of high consumption of red and processed meat in Eastern Europe (3,10,25) . These were also the primary Na sources, with one serving supplying, on average, 5•1 to 38•7 % of the maximum daily recommended intake (100-774 mg) (36) .…”

“…This urban street food environment has particular characteristics. A higher proportion of stationary vending sites, mostly formal such as stands and kiosks, was found in Chişinȃu, in contrast with other urban settings in lower-middle-income country (11,25,26) . Also, the street foods available were more frequently westernised food options (e.g.…”

Macronutrient composition of street food in Central Asia: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

“…Only a few of these foods may include vegetables or plant sources of protein, thus one can infer that most of this protein content is of animal origin. Similar findings have been reported in Mozambique, where stewed dishes containing meat or fish were the main sources of this nutrient (Sousa et al, 2018).…”

Street food in Dushanbe, Tajikistan: availability and nutritional value

“…Street food were more frequently homemade and cooked. The homemade main dishes, whether traditional such as plov, soup or shawarma or more westernised such as hamburger, demonstrated the highest protein content per serving, as found in a similar study (27) . A systematic review on the nutritional composition of street food in developing countries has, actually, reported a significant contribution of street food to the daily protein intake (8) .…”