Chile takes a historic step in food security with Its first street market law

12/05/2026

Before offices open and storefront lights switch on, the street is already alive: the first greetings exchanged among vendors, white vapor escaping with each word in the cold dawn air, hot tea passed from hand to hand, and a crusty marraqueta bread roll with fresh cheese for breakfast.

Amid crates unloaded from trucks, tents being assembled, and fruit carefully arranged through gestures learned over generations, the scene repeats itself week after week in urban neighbourhoods and rural municipalities across Chile, as part of the daily supply of fresh, nutritious, and affordable food.

For decades, this familiar image remained largely invisible in legal terms. Street markets operated under a variety of municipal ordinances, with rules differing from one territory to another. They existed, functioned, and fulfilled a widely recognized social role, yet lacked a common legal definition and a national framework regulating their operation.

This scenario, however, is about to change significantly for the 1,455 street markets operating across Chile, on which millions of people depend both for their livelihoods and daily access to food. The street market bill was recently approved by the Chamber of Deputies of Chile and is now awaiting promulgation.

When everyday life enters the legal framework

The law establishes a comprehensive legal framework aimed at recognizing, regulating, protecting, and promoting street markets as associative productive and commercial units.

To ensure that the legislation explicitly acknowledged the contribution of street markets to local development and national food and nutrition security, FAO has provided technical support since 2022 to the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, street market organizations, and the National Congress. This included participation in both the Chamber of Deputies’ Committee on Internal Government, Nationality, Citizenship and Regionalization and the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee.

Maya Takagi, FAO Representative in Chile, explained that the FAO team participated in more than 25 sessions of the National Street Markets Roundtable, contributing technical evidence, regulatory criteria, and comparative experiences from countries such as Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and England.

“Street markets play a key role in local food supply, especially in urban neighborhoods and territories where commercial food options are more limited. The absence of a clear legal definition was one of the main challenges that needed to be addressed,” Takagi noted.

Organization, Representation, and Territory

One of the law’s central changes is the redefinition of the internal organization of street markets and their relationship with local authorities through formal representation mechanisms. It also strengthens coordination with municipalities through harmonized local ordinances.

José Olivo, councillor and president of the Tourism and Finance Committee of the Municipality of Algarrobo, located on Chile’s central coast, highlighted the significance of this transformation after promoting the municipality’s first street market.

“Having a national law provides common criteria for municipal management and helps organize an activity that is permanently present throughout the territory,” he said.

For Olivo, the impact is twofold: it improves public management while strengthening access to food.

“Our market serves both urban and rural areas, where access to fresh and fairly priced food benefits not only the community but also the people who visit the municipality throughout the year. This law dignifies the work of street vendors; therefore, I call on councillors to monitor its implementation,” he concluded.

Councillors are members of the Municipal Council and are responsible, among other functions, for regulating municipal matters such as budgets, ordinances, and local development projects.

The work behind each stall

Behind every market stall is a story of continuous work, often family-based and passed down through generations.

Clara Román, president of the Lo Espejo Street Market and secretary of the National Federation of Street Markets, with more than three decades of experience and active participation in the legislative process, recalled the situation prior to the law:

“The rules depended on each municipality; ordinances were not always clear, and that created permanent uncertainty for our families, especially regarding permits to install and operate market stalls, as well as how long those permits would last.”

The new legislation introduces greater certainty and continuity, incorporating provisions such as inheritance priority in the event of a vendor’s death, while also strengthening participation in decision-making processes.

“We are very excited and grateful for FAO’s support in the working groups. This law gives us recognition, a stronger voice, and access to development programs and projects. It is a step forward for labour equality,” Román said.

She also emphasized the cultural and community value of street markets:

“Many markets are sustained across generations. We are part of local communities and Chilean culture; during critical moments, such as the pandemic, we were there supporting the nutrition of those who needed it most.”

Parliamentary Coordination and Regional Cooperation

The processing of the law is part of the commitments adopted by Chile’s National Congress on food security, including the “Food First” Parliamentary Pact signed in both legislative chambers. This agreement has helped position food as a public policy priority, consistent with legislative initiatives such as the Street Market Law.

In this context, the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger in Chile —part of a regional network across Latin America and the Caribbean— has contributed to strengthening this agenda with FAO’s technical support and the backing of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), through the project “Support to the Latin America and the Caribbean Without Hunger Initiative” and the Mesoamerica Without Hunger program, respectively.

Deputy Consuelo Veloso, coordinator of the Parliamentary Front in the Chamber of Deputies, highlighted the direct impact of street markets on food access.

“When you compare the price of vegetables in a supermarket with those at a street market, it becomes clear that many people would not be able to access fresh food without that difference. Food security is also decided there,” she stated.

Senator Iván Flores, coordinator of the Front in the Senate, directly linked this progress to the commitment assumed by Congress.

“The Food First Pact reflects the political will to place access to healthy food at the center of the public agenda. This law is consistent with that commitment and strengthens a system that not only enables access to fresh and fairly priced food, but also reflects the efforts of family farming, keeps rural culture alive, and contributes to sustainable development and food sovereignty in the territories,” he said.

Luis Lobo, officer in charge of the Spain–FAO Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean, emphasized the value of this coordinated process.

“This initiative demonstrates the importance of sustained, evidence-based, rights-focused multi-level collaboration — regional, national, and territorial — to strengthen State public policies on food security,” he noted.

At the end of the day

When the market is dismantled, the street returns to its usual appearance. The stalls disappear, traffic resumes its place, and only faint marks remain on the pavement — ready for the scene to repeat itself once again.

For Verónica Aliaga, a resident and regular shopper at the Avenida Argentina street market in Valparaíso, located in front of the National Congress, the meaning is straightforward:

“Here I find fresh, delicious, and affordable food. It’s something that breaks my routine and forms part of the life of the neighborhood and my own life,” she said.

The new law does not change that scene. It recognizes it, organizes it, and projects it into the future, formally acknowledging an essential activity for food access, employment, and local life in Chile.