AUTHOR=Albuquerque Gabriela , Lança de Morais Inês , Gelormini Marcello , Sousa Sofia , Casal Susana , Pinho Olívia , Damasceno Albertino , Moreira Pedro , Breda João , Lunet Nuno , Padrão Patrícia 

TITLE=Availability and Nutritional Composition of Street Food in Urban Central Asia: Findings From Almaty, Kazakhstan

JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health

VOLUME=67

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2022.1604558

DOI=10.3389/ijph.2022.1604558

ISSN=1661-8564

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objective:</bold> To describe the availability and nutritional composition of commonly available street foods in Almaty, Kazakhstan.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> 384 street food vending sites (in 10 public markets) were assessed; information on vending sites’ characteristics and food availability and samples of the most commonly available street foods (81 homemade; 40 industrial) were collected for chemical analysis.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Fruit, beverages and food other than fruit were available in 1.0%, 47.4% and 92.7% of all vending sites. Homemade food other than fruit (e.g., bread, main dishes, snacks, pastries, sandwiches, and cakes) were available in 63.4% of stationary vending sites, while industrial (e.g., snacks, chocolate, cakes, and cookies) in 45.6% of them. Industrial foods were the most energy-dense [median kcal/100 g: 438.8 vs. 267.2, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001 (homemade)]. Traditional homemade dishes were high in sodium, reaching 2,248 mg/serving (<italic>lagman</italic>) and major contributors of protein and fat to energy content (<italic>shashlik</italic>: 22.8% from protein, 68.3% from fat). Industrial chocolate and homemade cake presented the highest saturated (14.6 g/serving) and <italic>trans</italic>-fat (3.20 g/serving) contents.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> These findings advocate for the implementation of health promotion strategies targeted at vendors, consumers and other stakeholders.</p>