Food safety practices among food vendors A comparative study between St. Louis College of Education and Opoku Ware Senior High School

Abstract

Food safety activities among food vendors remain a crucial problem for people, food corporations and food control authorities in both industrialized and developing countries. One therefore has a strong conviction that there is a need for a thorough study into the phenomenon of food poisoning in schools caused by food vendors to validate the claim that mortality incidence among the school going youth has a correlation with their food intake on school premises. A comparative review of food safety practices between food suppliers at St. Louis College of Education and Opoku Ware School was the key objective of the report to evaluate food storage pratices adopted by food vendors. Exploratory and descriptive research designs were used. A population of 200 food vendors from St. Louis College of Education and Opoku Ware School, a total of 104 vendors were purposively sampled to participate in the study. Interview guide and questionnaire was the data collection instrument used. It was revealed that vendors at St. Louis College of Education demonstrated better food safety practices than food vendors at Opoku Ware School and they also had better health outlook of themselves when it comes to hygiene. It was discovered that, foodstorage practices adopted by vendors contributes about 48% at St. Louis College of Education compared to 14% at Opoku Ware Senior High School. Also, about 57% of food vendors at Opoku Ware School had more knowledge on food safety than their counterpart at St. Louis College of Education who had 22%. It was recommended that the Ghana Education Service and school authorities should organize training for food vendors in all educational institutions. It was also recommended that GES establish a requirement for food vendors operating in all educational institutions to receive periodic training on food safety and do regular medical checks up and reviews. It was concluded that school authorities particularly Opoku Ware School should ensure that much attention is given to the quality of foodstuffs procured for food preparation for the students