Patterns of Street Food Purchase in Cities From Central Asia

Corrigendum: Front Nutr. 2022 Aug 19;9:1005673. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.1005673. eCollection 2022FeedCities ProjectStreet food makes a significant contribution to the diet of many dwellers in low- and middle-income countries and its trade is a well-developed activity in the central Asian region. However, data on its purchase and nutritional value is still scarce. This study aimed to describe street food purchasing patterns in central Asia, according to time and place of purchase. A multicentre cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016/2017 in the main urban areas of four central Asian countries: Dushanbe (Tajikistan), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) and Almaty (Kazakhstan). Street food markets (n = 34) and vending sites (n = 390) were selected by random and systematic sampling procedures. Data on the purchased foods and beverages were collected by direct observation. Time and geographic location of the purchases was registered, and their nutritional composition was estimated. A total of 714 customers, who bought 852 foods, were observed. Customers’ influx, buying rate and purchase of industrial food were higher in city centers compared to the outskirts (median: 4.0 vs. 2.0 customers/10min, p < 0.001; 5.0 vs. 2.0 food items/10min, p < 0.001; 36.2 vs. 28.7%, p = 0.004). Tea, coffee, bread and savory pastries were most frequently purchased in the early morning, bread, main dishes and savory pastries during lunchtime, and industrial products in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon periods. Energy and macronutrient density was highest at 11:00–12:00 and lowest at 09:00–10:00. Purchases were smaller but more energy-dense in city centers, and higher in saturated and trans-fat in the peripheries. This work provides an overview of the street food buying habits in these cities, which in turn reflect local food culture. These findings from the main urban areas of four low- and middle-income countries which are currently under nutrition transition can be useful when designing public health interventions customized to the specificities of these food environments and their customers.This work was supported by the World Health Organization Europe (WHO registration 2015/591370-0 and 2017/698514) and by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The EPIUnit – Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto (Ref. UIDB/04750/2020), the Investigation Unit LAQV/REQUIMTE (UID/QUI/50006/2020) and the ITR - Laboratório para a Investigação Integrativa e Translacional em Saúde Populacional (LA/P/0064/2020) are funded by Portuguese funds from FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior). Individual grants attributed to SS (SFRH/BD/130650/2017) and GA (SFRH/BD/118630/2016) are funded by FCT and the Human Capital Operational Programme of the European Social Fund (POCH/FSE).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Cross-Sectional Study of the Street Foods Purchased by Customers in Urban Areas of Central Asia

This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Security, Food Intake and Eating Behaviour in Low- and Middle- Income CountriesThis study aimed to describe street food purchases in cities from Central Asia, considering customers’ characteristics and the nutritional composition of the foods and beverages. Cross-sectional studies were conducted in 2016/2017 in Dushanbe (Tajikistan), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) and Almaty (Kazakhstan). Direct observation was used to collect data on the purchases made by street food customers, selected by random and systematic sampling. Nutritional composition was estimated using data from chemical analyses, food composition tables or food labels. A total of 714 customers (56.6% females, 55.5% aged ≥35 years, 23.3% overweight/obese) were observed, who bought 852 foods and beverages, the most frequent being savoury pastries/snacks (23.2%), main dishes (19.0%), sweet pastries/confectionery (17.9%), tea/coffee (11.3%) and soft drinks/juices (9.8%). Fruit was the least purchased food (1.1%). Nearly one-third of customers purchased industrial food items (31.9%). The median energy content of a street food purchase was 529 kcal/serving. Saturated and trans-fat median contents were 4.7 g/serving and 0.36 g/serving (21.4% and 16.5% of maximum daily intake recommendations, respectively). Median sodium and potassium contents were 745 mg/serving (37.3% of maximum recommendation) and 304 mg/serving (8.7% of minimum recommendation), respectively. In general, the purchases observed presented high contents of energy, saturated-fat, trans-fat and sodium, and low levels of potassium. Policies towards the improvement of these urban food environments should be encouraged.The FEEDCities project is funded by the World Health Organization Europe (WHO registration 2015/591370-0 and 2017/698514) and by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The EPIUnit–Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto (Ref. UIDB/04750/2020) and the Investigation Unit LAQV/REQUIMTE (UID/QUI/50006/2020) are funded by Portuguese funds from FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior). Individual grants attributed to SS (SFRH/BD/130650/2017) and GA (SFRH/BD/118630/2016) are funded by FCT and the Human Capital Operational Programme of the European Social Fund (POCH/FSE)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Nutritional Characterization of Street Food in Urban Turkmenistan, Central Asia

FeedCities ProjectObjective: Describing the availability and nutritional composition of the most commonly available street foods in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Methods: One hundred sixty-one street food vending sites (six public markets) were assessed, through a collection of data on vending sites’ characteristics and food availability, and samples of commonly available foods (21 homemade; 11 industrial), for chemical analysis. Results: Fruit, beverages, and food other than fruit were available in 6.8, 29.2, and 91.9% of all vending sites, respectively. Regarding the latter, 52.7% of the vending sites sold only homemade products (main dishes, snacks, cakes, biscuits and pastries, bread, ice-cream chocolate and confectionery, savory pastries and sandwiches), 37.2% only industrial (ice-cream, chocolate and confectionery, cakes, biscuits and pastries, snacks, bread and savory pastries) and 10.1% both. Homemade foods presented significantly higher total fat [homemade 11.6 g (range 6.6–19.4 g); industrial 6.2 g (range 4.0–8.6 g), p = 0.001], monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and trans-fat, and sodium and potassium content per serving. Industrial wafers presented the highest mean saturated (11.8 g/serving) and trans-fat (2.32 g/serving) content. Homemade hamburgers presented the highest mean sodium content (1889 mg/serving). Conclusions: Strategies to encourage the production and sales of healthier street foods, especially homemade, are needed to promote healthier urban food environments in urban Turkmenistan.The FEEDcities project was funded by the World Health Organization Europe (WHO registration 2015/591370 and 2017/698514). This study was financed through national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology—FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education), under the project UIDB/04750/2020. Individual PhD grants attributed to GA (SFRH/BD/118630/2016) and SS (SFRH/BD/130650/2017) were funded by FCT and the Programa Operacional Capital Humano (POCH/FSE). The funders had no role in the design, analysis or writing of this paper.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio