Assessing hygiene practices of street food vendors in basic schools in Sissala East District of Ghana

Abstract

The major purpose of the study was to explore the food hygiene, personal hygiene and environmental hygiene practices of food vendors in basic schools in Sissala East District of Ghana. A descriptive survey design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised all street food vendors, environmental health officers and teachers in basic schools in the Sissala East District of Ghana. A sample size of eighty (80) was used. They were made up of thirty (30) street food vendors, twenty (20) environmental health officers and thirty (30) teachers. Purposive sampling and simple random sampling were used in selecting the sample. The data were gathered by administering interview guide, questionnaire and observation. Frequencies and percentages were used in analysing the data presented. From the responses of food vendors, environmental health officers and teachers, it was revealed that most food vendors observed food hygiene such as washing their hands before serving food, using separate equipment for serving cooked and raw, serving food with fork or spoon, serving food with cup or plate, keeping their equipment clean and having containers for washing bowls. It was also found that majority of the respondents did not observe some food hygiene practices. The major ones were that food vendors serve food with bare hands and do not provide drying racks for cleaned utensils. With respect to personal hygiene practices, food vendors and environmental officers indicated that food vendors do not wear clean clothes and do not wash their hands after receiving or counting money, sell when they have visible skin rashes, boils, cuts or wound and wear jewellery when selling food. The findings further showed that majority of food vendors failed to observe environmental hygiene relating to areas such as the provision of rubbish containers, drinkable water and clean towels for drying hands. It was concluded that Food vendors on basic school premises do not observe food, personal and environmental hygiene practices to the optimum. Based on the findings, it was recommended that Environmental health workers and District Nutrition Officers should train food vendors on food hygiene practices relating to issues such as the provision of drying racks for cleaned utensils and clean towels for drying hands. It was also recommended that the training of food vendors should cover personal hygiene practices including hand washing practices and the use of clean clothes. Finally, it was recommended that food vendors should be provided training on environmental hygiene with respect to practices such as the provision of rubbish containers, drinkable water and clean towels for drying hands.