Beware of the water used by street vendors in Pakistan.
The blob of crushed ice, popularly known as `gola ganda’, laced with red and green sweetened syrups and a dollop of sweet condensed milk may look tantalizing but might be lethal.
With country’s temperature soaring, it is these ices, chilled sherbets and punches sold by street vendors which are a leading cause of diarrhoea and gastroenteritis.
Perhaps the worst you can do to your stomach, especially in this heat, is to consume anything from outside that has water which is suspect.
These include one of the most popular street food savory items – ‘channa chaat‘, made of chickpeas with tamarind chutney over it, cut vegetables like cucumber and radishes, and seasonal fruits with ice.
Instead, take water from home or drink a carbonated drink if you are parched, but try not to buy juices and cold drinks from those street vendors. Even if they say they are using boiled water, what about the ice that they purchase from God knows where.
Many vendors still use glasses and china plates instead of disposable paper cups and plates and spoons and may not rinse them after each use.
Most of the street vendors selling sugar cane juice on one our streets serve their clients with glass cups full of ice and juice after just immersing those cups in a water tank without any detergent.
Huge chunks of ice are being crushed into pieces under unhygienic conditions on the spot.
