Formalin contamination in children's street foods at schools in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Formalin is one of the chemical agents that is sometimes abused as food preservative. Formalin has negative effect to human health, especially to children. This present study investigated the contamination of several children's street foods at schools with this substance. This study was held in 12 schools in Surakarta, Central Java Indonesia. The schools chosen included 4 elementary schools, 4 high schools, 3 senior high school and a vocational school. The children's street school food samples were fried foods, pasta, dim sum, chip, cake, and drinks. Food samples were collected and their formalin content was analysed using a formal-semi quantitative test (AHMTJ. OF the 57 children's meal tested, 28 (49%) of them were positively contaminated with formalin. These results are very important for food safety programs especially children street foods. Accordingly, the organizational structures are required to minimize the risk of food contamination using a Total Quality Management (TQM] approach.