Hygiene Facilities and Practices for Vended Meats at Selected Highway Markets in Uganda

Ananias Bagumire

doi:10.11648/j.jfns.20170501.11

Abstract

A study on hygiene facilities and practices for vendors of ready-to-eat roasted meat at selected highway markets was conducted. The objective of the study was to compare the current hygiene status with recommended best practices. Recommended conditions for hygiene facilities such as hand washing items, food storage equipments, food preparation and processing equipments as well as display and service facilities were assessed at 41 stalls using checklists. Questionnaires covering meat purchase and delivery, storage, preparation, processing, display and service were also administered to 180 vendors to assess their hygiene practices. A scale of 0-4 was used to assess the conformity of hygiene facilities. The majority (63%) of the hygiene facilities assessed scored below 2 denoting low conformity to recommended conditions. Hand washing facilities were the most deficient with a score of 0.34. Fair scores were obtained for aprons (2.5). The low scores obtained during the assessment of hygiene facilities concurred with the results obtained from the assessment of hygiene practices. The majority (71.5%) of the responses from vendors showed poor hygiene practices. Therefore, the hygiene facilities and practices did not conform to recommended best conditions. This means that there is a high risk of contamination of ready-to-eat roasted meat in the highway markets due to poor hygiene. Improved hygiene facilities, training and awareness creation among vendors and market authorities are required to ensure safety of ready-to-eat meats.

Highlights

Appropriate hygiene facilities and practices have become an integral part of the food safety management strategies for food handling operations which may include food vending markets
The low conformity across all the stalls in both markets is attributed to deficiencies in critical facilities such as food storage equipments, roasting stoves, cutting/chopping items, dressing gear and hand washing equipments
The low performance of hygiene practices is attributed to low awareness about good hygiene practices among the meat vendors

Summary

Introduction

Appropriate hygiene facilities and practices have become an integral part of the food safety management strategies for food handling operations which may include food vending markets. Hygiene in food handling areas such as highway food vending markets is facilitated by hand washing facilities and items, food storage equipments such as cupboards, boxes, bags, refrigerators and buckets. Hygiene during display and service of ready-to-eat foods is facilitated by display platforms, dressing items such as aprons, mouth, hair and beard restraints/covers and packing materials such as plastic bags and wrappers or packages. It is influenced by the cleaning methods deployed, cleaning schedules/frequency, the materials making food contact surfaces as well as any other items and facilities that come in contact with food [4]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion