Pagpag: It's their only food for survival

Do you always finish your food? Have you ever wondered where your left-overs go? Well, you might think these left-over foods end up being thrown to the dump site. But you might not actually be aware that it doesn’t actually end there. There are people who dig from a huge pile of dumped trashes in search of these left-over foods. These people are known and are labeled as scavengers

For some people, left-over foods are trash or wastes but for these “scavengers” it is their only source of food and living. We might even think it's really gross for them to eat our filthy left-over foods but they would rather consume these than die of hunger. That's how some people from the slum areas are here in the Philippines.

For those who don’t know what “Pagpag” is, it is the left-over foods that are re-cooked after cleansing from water. This practice probably arouse from their idea that bacteria will die once you wash it with water and heat it. Although they are aware that those are left-over foods from the garbage, they would still eat these as it is their last resort for their food for survival. They would eat almost anything just to satisfy their hunger. They are even willing to give their children these Pagpag foods just for them to survive. This is why it is not that surprising to find people of these practices immune to such way of living given that since childhood, they are being fed of unclean foods possibly filled with bacteria and harmful elements. For them, it doesn't matter if it came from trash. They would just say that it is still food, therefore, it can still be eaten.

Various scavengers takes opportunity of making a business out of this Pagpag since several people from the slum areas are starving. Some of them enjoy these stuff, some would even say that left-over foods are better than vegetables. They would usually collect lots of left-overs in the morning then they would clean it in water and sell it for 20 pesos per plastic bag. If there are remaining Pagpag foods, it will be shared with their family. Many would buy this because of its very cheap price.

Does this make you disgusted? Eating Pagpag is very dangerous to anyone’s health due to its potential harms caused by bacteria like salmonella or staphylococcus aureus. We should be grateful that we eat different kinds of delicious food of which they could eat probably only in their imagination. We should stop blaming the government for their insufficient support. We should be socially responsible enough to reach out to them through our own good deeds.

If they could only imagine the delicious foods you eat but never actually taste them, just imagine if you were the one who are actually eating Pagpag. We have multiple options of what to eat. They would greatly appreciate it if we share some of these options with them.