Abstract
Background: Food vendors play a critical food safety role in the “farm to plate” continuum that is necessary for the prevention and control of food borne diseases and therefore, any lack of its understanding by the food vendors poses a serious challenge to food safety. Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and hygienic practices of food vendors in Owerri town of Imo State, Nigeria. Methods: The study was a Cross-Sectional descriptive design that used a proportionate convenience sampling technique to select 200 food vendors from the three Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Owerri town. Data were collected using a pretested semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Descriptive analyses were done with frequencies and summary statistics. Chi square statistics were computed to determine significant relationships and p value was set at 0.05 significant level. Results: While a majority of the respondents had a good level of knowledge (81%) and positive attitude (71%) about food hygiene, only 37% of the respondents had a good level of hygienic practice. It was revealed that 32% and 46% of the respondents received training on food hygiene and environmental health worker inspection respectively. It was also revealed that, there were statistically significant relationships between knowledge (p = 0.001), attitude (p = 0.000), formal training on food hygiene (p = 0.000) and the level of food hygienic practices. Conclusion: The public health management of food vending services should involve the development of strategies that will equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to provide vending services in a hygienic and safe manner.
Highlights
The World health theme for 2015 was “Food Safety” and the slogan was “Farm to Plate, make Food Safe” [1]
Owerri town is bordered to the east by Otamiri River and to the south by Nworie River and it comprises of three Local Government Areas; Owerri Municipal, Owerri North and Owerri West which are part of the 27 Local Governments that make up Imo State
This study assessed the knowledge, attitude and the level of practice of food hygiene among food vendors in Owerri town of Imo State, Nigeria; and overall, it revealed that knowledge, attitude and training were significantly associated with the level of food hygienic practice of food vendors
Summary
The World health theme for 2015 was “Food Safety” and the slogan was “Farm to Plate, make Food Safe” [1] This highlights the importance that the World Health Organization places on the need to globally address in a coordinated manner, the potential threats posed by unsafe food which is a consequence of the breakdown of food hygiene with the subsequent risk of the emergence of food borne illnesses along the pathway of the entire food supply chain, of which the food vendor is a critical component. It was revealed that, there were statistically significant relationships between knowledge (p = 0.001), attitude (p = 0.000), formal training on food hygiene (p = 0.000) and the level of food hygienic practices. Conclusion: The public health management of food vending services should involve the development of strategies that will equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to provide vending services in a hygienic and safe manner
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