Food Safety And Hygienic Practices Among Food Vendors In Shukura Community, Ablekuma Central Submetro

Abstract

Background: The street food industry is one of the means of income generation in most developing countries. Due to the affordability, accessibility and availability of a wide variety of foods, millions of people depend on street foods on daily basis. For this reason, the safety and hygienic practices adopted during the production -to- consumption stage should not be undermined. Every year, millions of people worldwide suffer from food borne illnesses making it a major public health concern. Many have also linked the consumption of street foods with food poisoning and other food-borne diseases. Approximately 600 million, or almost 1 in 10 people worldwide, fall ill after consuming unsafe street foods yearly. Of these, 420,000 people die, including 125,000 children under the age of 5 years due to lack of practicing good food and personal hygiene (WHO, 2015). Awareness creation therefore plays a key role for food safety and handling amongst street food vendors. Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the hygienic and safety practices among street food vendors operating in Shukura Community. Methods This was a descriptive cross sectional study employing quantitative method of gathering data. It was conducted among all 100 food vendors stationed in Shukura community- Ablekuma Central sub metro. This population was obtained from the records of the Environmental Unit of the AMA. The study utilized a semi-structured questionnaire, direct interview and an observational checklist to collect data. STATA 14 and SPSS software were used to analyze the data obtained. Results From the descriptive statistics, it was observed that the street food business in Shukura community is female dominated. 92% were females and 8% were males. Also, amongst the type of foods sold, the commonest was the local Ghanaian dishes which comprised fufu, kokonte, banku, etc. In the final analysis, after adjusting for all other variables, four factors were significantly associated with inappropriate food hygienic practices. These were: educational attainment (AOR=O.S7, 95%CI=0.09 - 3.41), place of residence (AOR= 0.24, 95% CI= 0.06 - 0.97), factors considered when buying foodstuffs (AOR= 0.03, 95%CI= 0.001 - 0.57) and the number of times vendors wash their hands (AOR= 0.15, 95%CI= 0.05 - 0.43). Conclusion It was reported that there was a decreased level of inappropriate food hygienic practices among those with higher education and duration of vending, but the study findings did not confirm this. Findings notable to be significant were: ones educational status, place of residence, factors considered when buying foodstuffs and the number of times vendors wash their hands.