Officially, the CDC says avoid street vendors; realistically, it says if you choose to eat street food, apply the same safety rules.
Those rules: hot food steaming and cooked through, cold food chilled, nothing lukewarm, no raw dishes, and fruit you peel yourself. Add the field filters: busy stalls with fast turnover, food cooked in front of you, no pre-cut produce, and your own hands washed or sanitized before eating. Ceviche-style dishes are a named CDC no, since citrus juice does not sterilize seafood. Even doing everything right carries some risk, so pack rehydration salts.
What to do
Common questions
Is it safe to eat street food abroad?
The official answer and the honest answer differ slightly, and you should know both. The CDC's food and water guidance says avoid eating food from street vendors, because vendor hygiene, water quality, and storage temperatures are unknowable. But it immediately adds: if you choose to eat street food, follow the same food safety rules as other foods, and those rules are the real answer. Hot food should be steaming and cooked through; cold food should be properly chilled. The CDC's rule of thumb is avoid lukewarm food, since germs multiply in the temperature middle. Practical street-smart filters that match the guidance: pick stalls with a queue of locals, because turnover means food is not sitting; watch it cooked in front of you at high heat; skip salads, cut fruit, and anything washed in local water, since the CDC says fruits and vegetables are safer if you peel them yourself; avoid raw or ceviche-style dishes, which the CDC specifically warns are not made safe by citrus juice; and wash or sanitize your own hands before eating, because travelers often carry the germs to their own mouth. Traveler's diarrhea risk never drops to zero, so pack rehydration salts and know that most cases pass in a few days.