"I darn well know the guy with the cart doesn't have the highest health standards and I make my own choices. Some street food is not up to my standards, some is

"I darn well know the guy with the cart doesn't have the highest health standards and I make my own choices. Some street food is not up to my standards, some is." While that sounds good and well, how do you make that choice? What are the input data that you have that makes it possible for you to make an informed choice about this? I suspect you can't. You just have the illusion of an informed choice, because you have no idea of knowing whether someone's food is full of salmonella or E Coli until after the fact, when you get sick. The key question is why these regulations exist. If it's because there is a significant chance of someone dying, I see nothing wrong with it. But the key is that there needs to be some dispassionate assessment of objective risk. Since at least the US population seems to be extremely risk-averse in some ways (e.g. terrorism, child abductions) but happily accepts a vastly higher risk in other situations (e.g. driving a car) the key is to not be swayed by emotions.