Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Street food is defined as foods and beverages ready-to-eat prepared and / or sold on the street or similar and this has revealed in recent years as global trend in food service, despite the insecurity regarding the hygiene practices perceived by some individuals. OBJECTIVES: To know the profile of street food consumers in Portugal, the type of food, its frequency of consumption and to evaluate the consumer's perception regarding food safety, comparing to results obtained in Latin American countries. METHODOLOGY: An online survey was conducted as part of a multicenter study at the Iberian American level. RESULTS: In Portugal, from 803 inquired individuals, 50.9% are aged between 18 and 30 years old, and the majority are female. The majority of respondents consumed street food in the three months before answer the questionnaire. About 46% consumed street food less than monthly. The most consumed foods were ice cream (89.6%), bifanas or bread with cheese (83.1%), farturas / churros (80.3%) and hot-dogs / hamburgers (79.8%). The main reasons for consumption were availability (48.7%) and taste (30.3%). The report of vomiting and diarrhea after street food consumption in Portugal is below the average for Latin American countries. About 80.2% of respondents consider street food vendors as dirty or partially dirty. CONCLUSIONS: In Portugal, there is a low frequency of consumption of street food, being ice cream and as bifanas the most consumed, and consumption predominantly determined by the availability and taste of this type of food. Overall, the perception of hygiene of Portuguese consumers is bad; however, the report of illness after eating this type of food was low.