Are Hackney's markets bad for your health?

Whether you want exotic meat, fresh fish, or hard to find fruit, Hackney is known for its vibrant food markets. But could you be biting off more than you can chew when you shop on the streets? Sarah Bloch exposes the unsavoury side of Hackney’s market food.


Street vendors are an important part of Hackney’s vibrancy. The borough's markets - lines of ramshackle tents and awnings - throw up a bewildering selection of cheap clothes, illicit DVDs and strange-looking fruit and vegetables, meat (above) and fish.

Avoiding big name supermarkets and supporting local traders is an important way of promoting a sense of community, but just how much damage could shopping in markets do to your health?

The most recent Food Standards Agency (FSA) reports into the Ridley Road Market in Dalston reveal just how poor standards of food hygiene can be. Of the 25 stalls selling food produce, 10 were not awarded a single star for food hygiene, branding them ‘unacceptable’. A further eight were granted only one star and a rating of ‘poor’.

The star rating reflects how well the vendor has complied with food hygiene regulations in storing and preparing produce. A shop with no stars demonstrates ‘almost total non-compliance with statutory obligations’, according to the FSA. A quick glance at the statutory obligations, which prohibit dirt, condensation, mould, and cross-contamination of raw and cooked meat shows how serious non-compliance could be.

If you’re already feeling squeamish, look away now. A report into one butcher’s premises found evidence of rodents and an infestation of cockroaches. When a sausage was cut open for inspection, it was full of live maggots.

Steve Edmonsdon, a medical microbiologist, explains that, unpleasant as it sounds, the risks to your health are fairly small as long as you are buying raw meat with the intention of cooking it. “There are less than 10 organisms that would be deadly, and they are very rare,” he says.

“One of the things you must look out for, especially when buying fruit, is Hepatitis A. Perhaps the fruit picker or the stall holder has not washed his hands properly after using the toilet, and this is a virus that can be passed on extremely easily. Other similar viruses are gastroenteritis and the norovirus, which can cause food poisoning. If you’re buying cooked food off a market stall where refrigeration is not adequate then you are putting yourself at risk.

In Ridley Road, it’s not just unscrupulous traders who are potentially endangering shoppers’ health. The council struggle to clear up all the rubbish the market produces each night, leaving mountains of food matter attracting insects, rats and mice. As many of the stalls are little more than shacks, these infestations spread quickly.

To put the impact that rats have on the local environment into perspective, visualise this: the pest control company Rentokil estimate that anything between one-fifth and one-third of the world’s total food output is eaten, spoiled or destroyed by rats and other rodents.

Add to this the fact that rats can carry over thirty different diseases, including the potentially fatal Weil’s disease, typhus, salmonella and bubonic plague, and you’d be forgiven for not wanting an infestation anywhere near your food source.

“The maggots that were found are the offspring of flies, which are direct vectors of whatever they’ve landed on,” says Edmondson. “Therefore if they’ve been on some horrid raw meat, then land on your wonderful cooked meat, there’ll be a direct transfer of bacteria. If you see a lot of flies around, that’s an indication that the stallholder is not doing everything right in terms of hygiene.

“Rats are another sign of poor hygiene, and there is a pretty worrying thing going on if you’ve got rats. At that point it’s become a public hygiene issue.”

The best way to avoid any of the dangers associated with contaminated meat is to take it home and cook it yourself. “When people shoot pheasants, they hang them until they’re horrible,” says Edmondson. “They will really be revoltingly contaminated with maggots and all sorts – it’s known as ‘gamey’ – but when you cook it it’s all just added protein really. At the end of the day the eaters have as much responsibility for their own health as the sellers.”

Market Food The Facts: how should you handle and prepare your purchases?

Don’t eat food that’s been cooked and left around – check it has been adequately cooked, kept hot and kept far away from raw meat.

Store raw meat away from cooked food in your fridge.

Parasitic infections are a rarity in Britain today, but be sure to cook pork particularly well, to kill any tapeworms.

Peel all fruit, or wash it before eating.

Cook meat thoroughly, using a meat thermometer to check that it is cooked through. Chicken should not be at all pink.

Rare beef is fine, but pink burgers are a no-go. Make sure any street food you eat is cooked in front of you.

Wash your hands before and after handling raw meat.

Copyright of The Hackney Post