Knowledge, attitude and practices towards food safety and hygiene among street food vendors in Kiboga Town Council.
Abstract
Introduction
Foodborne diseases still remain one of the leading global causes of morbidity and mortality. Street food vending still remains one of the most practice or business enterprise all over the world with at most presence in the third world countries where there is normally unregulated practices and procedures. Knowledge, attitudes and practices of food handlers determine the quality of food consumed by the final and intermediate consumers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices towards food safety and hygiene among street food vendors in Kiboga Town Council, Kiboga District.
Methodology
A descriptive cross-sectional study design using quantitative data collection methods was employed. An interviewer-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data from among 405 street food vendors. An observational checklist was also used to cover other practice variables from 405 street food vendors in Kiboga Town Council. This data was entered and cleaned in EPI DATA 3.0 software then analyzed in STATA 13 software.
Results
Only two in five 40.3% (163/405) of the street food venders in Kiboga Town Council had good scores for knowledge (10-13) while more than three quarters 76.1% (308/405) had poor (1-6) attitude scores and 40.2 (163/405) with good (7-9) scores of food safety and hygiene practices.
Conclusion
The knowledge of street food vendors on food safety and hygiene was generally fair with attitudes being generally poor together with the practices.