TITLE:
Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Food Hygiene among Food Vendors in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Anthony C. Iwu, Kenechi A. Uwakwe, Chukwuma B. Duru, Kevin C. Diwe, Henry N. Chineke, Irene A. Merenu, Uche R. Oluoha, Ugochukwu C. Madubueze, Emmanuel Ndukwu, Ikechi Ohale
KEYWORDS:
Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Food Hygiene, Food Vendors, Owerri, Nigeria
JOURNAL NAME:
Occupational Diseases and Environmental Medicine,
Vol.5 No.1,
January
24,
2017
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.