Abstract:
Background
According to the World Health Organization currently illness resulting from contaminated food is the most widespread health problem. Food and Drugs Authority in 2013 stated that schools contributed 77% of all traceable food borne illness in Ghana. For this reason the study was carried out to document the food hygiene practices of food vendors in the University of Ghana.
Objectives
The objective of this study was to assess the adherence of food vendors to hygienic practices and sanitary conditions on the University of Ghana campus.
Methods
The study was descriptive cross sectional in nature using both quantitative and qualitative methods of data gathering. The study was conducted among 208 food vendors and 2 environmental health officers in the University of Ghana. Data collection tools used were structured questionnaire (used among food vendors) and an interview guide (used among environmental officers for in-depth interviews). SPSS software was used for analysis, this involved the use of frequency distributions as well associations by the use of chi-squared tests. (5% significance level) as well as frequency distributions which were used to analyze the data obtained from the survey.
Results
Generally, street vendors displayed adherence to sanitary and hygienic practices. Though more than half of the food vendors on campus had been licensed most of them did not know the importance of having a license (85.1%).
The study also revealed that gender, marital status and length of service were significantly associated with the use of protective clothing during work (chi-squared; p< 0.05). A large number (76%) of food vendors were found to wash their dishes in bowls of water as compared to washing under running water and for those who washed their dishes in bowls there was a significant relationship between length of service and how often they changed the water (chi-squared p<0.05) . In addition, instead of vendors emptying their bin whenever it was full more half of them (56.7%) waited till the close of day before emptying them.
Conclusion
In conclusion authorities of the University of Ghana should provide adequate infrastructure such as sinks and proper education can help with the improvement of hygienic practices of food vendors.
