Open AccessAssessment of Food Safety Knowledge and Compliance to Hygienic Practices among Street Food Vendors in Zanzibar Urban District
Author(s) -
Jamila K. Hassan,
Leonard W.T. Fweja
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
current journal of applied science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2457-1024
DOI - 10.9734/cjast/2020/v39i730577
Subject(s) - hygiene , environmental health , food safety , hand washing , toilet , food preparation , medicine , descriptive statistics , business , statistics , mathematics , pathology
This cross-sectional descriptive study assessed the hygienic and safety measures among street food vendors in the Urban district of Zanzibar. A total of 265 food vendors with immobile food vending units were involved. Data were gathered using a structured researcher-administered questionnaire and complemented with observation. Compliance ranks to food safety and hygiene were established based on computed compliance scores. Descriptive statistics and chi-squared tests (α = 0.05) were employed in data analyses. The results indicated that only a moderate fraction of the vendors have had formal training in food safety and hygiene, however the majority of whom demonstrated great awareness about food safety and hygiene. Among the surveyed vending sites 36% appeared clean, 50.2% and 42.6% vending sites had waste bin and / or refuse sites respectively, wash basin (44.9%) and soap availability (47.2%). Safe food handling practices included food covering (57.4%), adequate protection of food from flies and dust (40.8%), cold preservation of food (28.3%), saving food hot or reheated before sale (35.1%), dishing out food with appropriate gadgets (53%). Observed good food hygiene conducts included washing hands with soap before preparing food (always 63%, sometimes 34%), washing hands with soap after toilet visit (always 33.2%, sometimes 46.8%), clean finger nail (98.5%), hair protection (33.6%) and use of apron (29%). The results likewise indicate an overall compliance of 0.50 on environmental hygiene of vending site, 0.45 on food handling practices, and 0.66 on vendors’ hygiene and sanitary practices. This implies an average overall compliance with the hygiene of the vending site and food handling practices and good overall compliance with the vendors’ hygiene and sanitary practices. Chi-square analysis revealed that gender, education attainments, formal training on food safety and vending duration are influencing factors for food safety and hygiene measures.