Assessing the characteristics of roasted chicken vendors along the road side: a case study in Nakawa division

Abstract

The study aimed at assessing the characteristics of roasted chicken vendors in Nakawa division. This study was conducted in three parishes which included; Kyanja, Ntinda, and Bukoto in Nakawa division. The study mainly looked at the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the roasted chicken vendors, enterprise characteristics and the knowledge and practices of roasted chicken vendors on food safety. A total of 80 road side chicken vendors were surveyed using structured questionnaires and transect and snowball procedure. Data on age, gender, period in business was collected to assess the demographic characteristics of vendors. Data on the former business, main source of income, Level of business ownership and price of the chicken in the market and price of chicken portions to assess the socio-economic characteristics of chicken vendors. Data on type of chicken, source of chicken was collected to assess the enterprise characteristics and data on knowledge and practices on food safety was collected. Data was then coded and entered into spss so as to obtain the graphs, statistics and figures. The findings revealed that majority of the vendors (88.8%) were between the age of 18-36. These are majorly the youth. This is not surprising because the business requires standing for long hours while vending roasted chicken. Furthermore, majority of the vendors (56.3%) had attained only secondary level of education and because they could not secure the formal sector, they started the chicken vending business. Majority of the vendors (83.5%) sell broiler type chicken meat because it is meaty, easy to prepare and affordable to buy in the market. Majority of the vendors (55.0%) reported that the price of chicken in market is between 15,000-2,000 and majority sell the roasted chicken portion between the price of 4,000-5,000, surprisingly majority of the vendors sell the roasted chicken in portions because of high return compared to whole chicken. Majority of the vendors (52.50%) had no training on food safety, 57.5% of the vendors use paper bag as their packaging materials, majority of the vendors (56.3%) roast the chicken, 37.5% use sacks as their disposal site and 85.0% use taps as the source of water. It can be concluded that the level of education has no significant effect on practices towards food safety