Food safety knowledge and practices among fresh coconut vendors

Food and Public Health, 2014

Food safety amongst street food vendors is becoming a major public concern especially in urban areas of the developing world where this industry is expanding rapidly. There is rarely any information on street food safety issues in rural northern Ghana where this industry is equally growing rapidly. We therefore conducted this study to assess the knowledge level and evaluate food safety and hygiene practices amongst street food vendors in a rural district of northern Ghana. A cross sectional study was carried out in the Nadowli district where 200 street food vendors were randomly selected from of both densely and none densely populated areas of food vendors. Knowledge level amongst vendors concerning food safety practices was 100%. Although over 96% washed their hands after some major activities, about 13% of them did not use soap. The main storage forms of leftover foods were consumption by friends and family members (13%), reheating (13%) and refrigeration (11.5%). Water storage containers were also found to be used for other activities. 71% of the vendors had undergone medical screening despite a high knowledge level (100%) of its importance. Street food vendors in this rural northern setting generally have a high knowledge level on food safety issues but however do not translate this knowledge into practice.

African Journal of Food Science

This study assessed various factors associated with poor compliance of street food vendors to safety measures in the Techiman Municipality with emphasis on the World Health Organization's five keys to safer food policy. Two sets of questionnaires were designed to collect data from 150 respondents (140 food vendors and 10 officials of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Agency) in the Techiman Municipality. Data was collected based on the level of awareness, food hygiene/handling practices and effectiveness of regulatory bodies in the Techiman municipality. Overall, awareness of food hygiene was high (91.4%) and depended on vendor's educational level (Chi-square = 7.810, P<0.05). The ability to maintain a clean food preparation area was generally poor. Most food vending sites (68%) were dirty and most respondents disposed of their waste in polythene bags (56.4%). Only a few food vendors washed their hands after scratching themselves (32%) or handling money (22%). Separation between raw materials from cooked food was also poor. Overall, 25% of the vendors always stored raw and cooked food separately, 29% stored them separately sometimes, while 47% did not. Food was however kept at safe at temperature 82%. The hygiene and safety of raw materials used in cooking was in doubt. Most food vendors (69%) considered price important and purchased cheap raw materials. Finally, the effectiveness of regulatory bodies was generally fair (50%). This might be a result of some challenges faced by regulatory bodies in terms of logistics and resources (90%) and also lack of cooperation from food vendors (10%). The study concluded that there is high awareness of food safety among food vendors in the Techiman municipality. Yet food hygiene and handling practices are poor. This might be due to challenges faced by food vendors in terms of finances (65.7%) and pressure from consumers (34.3%). There is also poor regulation by regulatory bodies which might also be due to a lack of logistics and resources (90%). Current regulations in the municipality regarding general food hygiene practices should be reviewed and strengthened to focus on a risk based approach.

Advances in Public Health

Street foods have become a major source of cooked food for most households and individuals in many developing countries including Ghana. However, the rising concern about food-borne illness has questioned the knowledge of the street food vendors to constitute safety practices for food handling. This study assessed the knowledge of street food vendors on food safety and food-handling practices in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality of Ghana. The study used a cross-sectional mixed approach involving 340 participants selected by simple random sampling. A structured questionnaire and an observational checklist were used to collect data and analyzed using STATA version 12. The results indicated that 98.8% of the food vendors had good knowledge on food safety and handling. The knowledge on food safety was associated with training (p value ≤0.011), license status (p value ≤0.002), marital status (p value &lt;0.001), and religion (p value ≤0.038). Good food-handling practices were associated with...

Introduction Food safety issues is not new to our world today and problems that arise from unsafe food consumption has been recorded around the world. The world is faced with multiple health challenges, and food safety is one of the health challenges. This study therefore assessed the food safety practices among food vendors in Ikenne Local Government, Ogun state, Nigeria.

2021

The research looked into how street food sellers handled food. The method used was a multistage selection technique. An aggregate of 155 vendors were chosen at random for the survey, and data were composed with designed questionnaire. The study's analytical instruments were descriptive statistics, likert scales and chi-square. High proportion of merchants were females, with an average age of 38 years. The respondents' educational levels revealed that 67.6% had only primary education with mean vending experience of 6 years. The food vendors had an awareness index of 80.2% with 64% usage index of recommended food practices. Washing food before cooking, covering food, storage in a hotspot, utensil cleanliness, a hot meal, well-cooked food, wash-kits with hygienic water, and reheating food were the frequently utilized methods. There was positive correlation between awareness and utilization of practices. It has become necessary that vendors are cognizant of all procedures necessary to maintain the safety and suitability of food.

Public Health Research, 2018

Food safety has become a major public health concern globally as street food vending is a rapidly growing industry in both developed and the developing world. An increasing incidence of diarrhoea cases in Ghana is attributable to unhygienic street food vending. This study was carried out to assess knowledge and practices regarding food safety among cooked food vendors. The research design was a cross-sectional study. A sample size of 81 food vendors was selected. Data was collected using questionnaire. Results showed that 98.9% of the respondents were females. Majority of the food vendors had some knowledge on food safety and hygiene and knew that diarrheal diseases could result from food contamination and/or poisoning. 98% of the respondents said hand washing was necessary at all times but, only 13.6% washed their hands all the time and out of this only 45.5% washed their hands always with soap and running water. Only 21% store leftover foods in the refrigerator whilst 41% store fo...

https://www.ijhsr.org/IJHSR_Vol.8_Issue.5_May2018/IJHSR_Abstract.036.html, 2018

Street vended foods have gained popularity due to economic benefits. However, they have been recognized as a potential hazard to public health. Minimal information exists on the safety and hygiene of street foods. This study aimed to assess the hygienic practices of the street food vendors in respect to their training in basic food hygiene. The study adopted a descriptive survey in Mombasa Island on a sample of 100 randomly selected vendors. The focus was on vendors selling mahamri, mbaazi and samosa. Chi-square (χ 2) was used to test the relationship between training and various aspects of hygiene. T-Test and analysis of variance was used to assess for any significant differences between study variables. Results notes poor hygiene practices like wearing of jewellery (37%), having long and unclean nails (43%) and lack of protective clothing (36%). Men had better hygienic practices than women (P<0.05). Hygiene practices significantly (P<0.05) related to the training where those trained were found to observe hygiene. The study concluded that the street-vended foods are not safe as they are exposed to food safety risks. It is recommended that street food vendors be trained, recognized and licensed to enable them produce safe food.

Journal of Nutritional Science

Increasingly most people have their meals outside their homes and are vulnerable to illnesses caused by unsafe foods. Unsafe food preparation and supply by vendors have made food safety a concern for public health. The present study evaluated the nutrition knowledge, attitude and food safety and hygienic practices of street food vendors (SFVs) in Northern Ghana. An analytical cross-sectional study design was conducted among 424 SFVs, and the data were collected using questionnaires and observation. The mean ± sd nutrition knowledge score of the SFVs was 7⋅08 ± 1⋅75 in which the majority of the participants (68⋅6 %) knew foods that help fight diseases and build immunity. The mean ± sd food safety and hygienic practice score was 7⋅61 ± 2⋅66 with more than half of the participants reportedly not using hand gloves while preparing and serving food. Factors that were associated with food safety and hygienic practices of the SFVs were level of education (β = −0⋅36, P &lt; 0⋅001), number of...

East African Journal of Science and Health , 2024

ABSTRACT This study assessed the health practices of food vendors in the University of Benin. Four research questions and one hypothesis were raised to guide the research. Literatures related to the study were reviewed. The study adopted a school-based descriptive cross-sectional research design and the population of the study comprised 144 food vendors within the University of Benin Ugbowo Campus. The census method was used to recruit respondents for the study. A self-structured checklist and questionnaire was used for the collection of data. The questionnaire was content validated and a reliability coefficient of 0.73 was obtained using the test re-test reliability method. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts, percentages and inferential statistics of Chi-square. The findings revealed that majority of the food vendors in the University of Benin had good health practices as it relates to food safety and moderate level of knowledge of foodborne diseases. The result also showed a calculated chi-square value of 0.16 showing that there is no significant relationship in the observed health practices of food vendors by gender in the University of Benin. The study recommends among others the establishment of a recognition or certification system that acknowledges and rewards vendors who consistently demonstrate good food safety practices. Keywords: Food Vendors, Health Practices, Foodborne Disease, Students.

The fastest-growing industry in the world is in hospitality field that focuses on customer satisfaction. Part of this is the food service industry that is improving its existence for the past years. In hospitality industry, there are various kinds of businesses and one of them is " street food " that is not properly sanitized yet affordable and delicious. One major concern with this is the food safety. Food safety guides and educates people on the advantages and disadvantages of eating this kind of food. Food-borne illness is one of the main worries when it comes to eating street foods, which people do not want to experience. With this, the researchers want to provide knowledge and effective solutions to prevent food-borne illness and how to apply food safety practices. The researchers used various approaches in order to know the vendors' perception on food safety, which are the descriptive quantitative and qualitative approaches. This research was conducted in Tanauan City, Batangas. Fifty-five vendors were interviewed using a survey questionnaire for them to provide accurate answers. While the researchers were interviewing the vendors, they were also observing the operations of the whole kiosk. In analyzing the data gathered, they used the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16.0. Based on the results, the researchers found out that there are some differences in the vendors' perception on food safety based on their demographic profile. The researchers also found out that the vendors are doing different practices in their business even though they belong to a single association.