THE Department of Health (DOH) is inviting “mukbang” vloggers to a consultative meeting as it pursues plan to regulate the practice of online broadcast showing a host eating large amounts of food while talking with the audience.
Health Assistant Secretary and spokesman Albert Domingo said Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa has raised the idea of meeting with vloggers to give the agency better understanding of mukbang.
“The Secretary would like to meet the ‘mukbangers.’ You can say it will be an open consultation… The DOH is very much open to that,” he said.
Domingo said the meeting seeks to establish parameters on the possible regulation of mukbang without violating the rights of vloggers.
“We don’t want the government to impose an outright ban. We will explore its regulation so we want to talk to them (vloggers) and get their inputs,” he said.
Earlier, Herbosa raised concerns over the adverse health effects of doing mukbang in online shows. This after mukbang vlogger Dongz Apatan suffered a stroke on June 14 after eating fried chicken despite reportedly having high blood pressure.
Apatan’s death prompted Herbosa to consider regulating mukbang activities of Filipinos.
