Intramuros Vendors Undergo DOST-NCR Food Safety Training  

Over 100 Postigo vendors selling their food products within Intramuros underwent a training on the “5S of Productivity Improvement, Basic Food Hygiene and Food Safety Hazards” organized by the DOST-NCR PAMAMAZON CASTO to ensure consumer safety and to boost tourism from both local and foreign visitors to the famous Walled City, all of which will result to increased sales for the vendors.  

The training conducted on March 18, 2024 at Casa Blanca, Plaza San Luis aimed to orient the participants about the basics of food safety and food hygiene, from the time that food is prepared, up to the time that food is sold to the consumers.  

The short course is also an implementation of one of the six projects that DOST-NCR will be doing with the Intramuros Administration based on the Memorandum of Agreement inked by the two parties last October 2023 during the DOST-NCR’s Pamana Agham: Celebrating Filipino Heritage Through Science exhibition. Under the agreement, DOST-NCR will be introducing scientific and technological innovations anchored on DOST’s four pillars of wealth creation, wealth protection, sustainability, and well-being that will make Intramuros more accessible and engaging for both domestic and foreign visitors.   

Three of these projects have to do with food, namely: the Food Safety Ladderized Training for Food Merchants in Intramuros and the Establishment of a Food Safety Grading System for Food Merchants in Intramuros, which both are aimed improving the overall food safety and hygiene practices of food merchants in Intramuros by fostering a culture of compliance with strict food safety standards, and the Halal Training to Certification, which will train food merchants and industries in Intramuros using modules of the Halal Tourism Project to help them comply with Halal standards and later on apply for Certification.   

These projects are geared towards enabling the food merchants in Intramuros to cater to more customers as well as increase their sales.   

By: Pinky Marcelo, SCCU