In the Philippines, a wide array of street foods are enjoyed by both locals and foreigners. These foods are highly valued because of their flavor and form part of the rich and colorful history of the regions. Eastern Visayas (EV) is especially known for street-vended native crop-based delicacies because the region is predominantly agriculture, and excesses in the staple diet are processed into delicacies.

The problem with native delicacies is they are prone to spoilage with a number of incidents involving food safety scandals in the Philippines. Studying the different foodborne contaminants of EV street-vended native crop-based delicacies is important for the following reasons: 1) The tropical temperature of the Philippines favors the growth and multiplication of foodborne disease (FBD) etiological pathogens. 2) Food vending outlets are among the establishments that are difficult to regulate due to the lack of resources for safety controls (Collado et al., 2015). 3) There is limited information available on FBDs related to native delicacies.

This project aims to bridge these gaps in support of the two pillars of EV (expanded and diversified manufacturing subsector and vibrant tourism subsector) as well as to provide data required by the Food Safety Act of 2013. This project will run over a two-year period with phase 1 determining the microbial quality and count of hygiene indicators and pathogens as well as shelf-life of native delicacies. In phase 2, consumers' willingness to pay for safety attributes will be investigated. Outputs of the project are one/two publications, proposals on new food standards for native delicacies, establishment of a microbial laboratory, partnerships with local government units (LGUs) of different sites, and mentoring of BSIT and BSAB students in their thesis. This project will be jointly undertaken by BiPSU and VSU.