Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong

The Ministry of Health is conducting laboratory tests to identify the cause of illness that is believed to be associated with street food in Suva.

Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says he has been informed by health inspectors about some of the cases they are currently following.

Dr Fong adds they are now carrying out necessary checks to establish if street food is causing people to fall ill.

“There is another team of health inspectors that I spoke to about seven days ago, and they gave me some reports and they told me that there is some indication that there are some of our vendors that are causing or the food coming out from them seems to be associated with people getting sick.”

Dr Fong says no drastic action will be taken until the Ministry knows the exact cause.

The Permanent Secretary for Health stresses that while many Fijians sell street food to provide for their families, they must do so safely.