Food safety, nutrition, health and wellbeing are inextricably linked [1] . Unsafe food leads to diseases and contributes to malnutrition, particularly affecting infants, young children, pregnant/lactating women, and the elderly/frail [2] . Foods or fluids can be contaminated by harmful bacteria, parasites, viruses or polluted by chemical substances such as heavy metals leaking from dump sites.

Food-borne diseases (FBD) are associated with 75% of disease outbreaks [3] [4] and are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality rates with 2.1 million deaths globally every year [5] . According to the World Health Organisation FBDs are of serious public health issues in sub-Sahara Africa due to unhygienic food handling practices, poor understanding on food safety measures, inadequate food safety laws and regulatory systems, inadequate infrastructure and investment, weak surveillance of food establishments and financial misappropriation [6] .

Children are especially at risk of frequent episodes of diarrhoea, when living in environments of poor hygiene and sanitation that leads to environmental enteropathy [7] . This increases intestinal permeability and impairs the gut immune function resulting in nutrient malabsorption and potentially oral vaccine failure [8] .

Freetown is the capital of Sierra Leone situated on the west coast of Africa. The population has expanded rapidly over the last 30 years and spread to along the estuary around the mountains known as the Western Area. Currently it is administered as two districts: Western Area Urban (WAU) and Western Area Rural (WAR). The food environment is characterized by the co-existence of formal and informal outlets, formal covered marketplaces (with many traders), street vendors (fanna/table tops), small “Fullah” shops, kiosks, house shops, self-production/sale of fruit and vegetables, sharing, borrowing, community food kitchens (during a crisis) and food aid.

Ready-made foods accessed by the poor and middle classes are accessed at “cookri” baffa¹, restaurants, table-tops (selling beans salad² or “fry-fry”³), Ataya base⁴ (meeting places of males selling tea and eggs, roast meat/pepper soup)⁵, and street vendors of acheke, “ebeh⁶/foofoo⁷, hot-pap⁸ or lafidi⁹”. People find it cheaper and more convenient to buy food from “cookri” than to make food at home as they have limited time or storage facilities [9] .

In the Western Area, poor sanitation affects all these markets. Most of the formal markets and “cookri-baffa” do not have access to safe drinking water or adequate waste management. Market vendors pay a small daily market fee (tax) to the local council towards water, sanitation and/or storage facilities. However, there are persistent waste management problems including long duration before overfull pit latrines are emptied, nearby dump sites and open sewers. These conditions attract rodents and insects. Progress are being made by Freetown City Council to improve solid and liquid waste management by the establishment of commercially viable bio-digesters piloted in Aberdeen [10] that would be able to process 600 kg waste per day and provide energy and compost to nearby customers. Another bio-digester in the Mabella community near Douff Cut market is being planned in collaboration with UNOPS and Save the Children.

Street trading of any kind of commodity especially local foods found in nearly every street in the WAU that has repeatedly evoked political tension. Traders prefer selling on the road side and main junctions and move out of the formal markets, causing traffic congestion, making it difficult for pedestrians, motorbikes and vehicles to move. Formal markets are insufficient to accommodate all traders and some have transformed into dwellings where youths smoke “kush¹⁰” and marijuana.

Poor and very poor households are heavily dependent on street trading for their livelihood. During the school holidays, parents may send their children to trade to raise money for school fees and uniforms for the next academic year. These children are vulnerable to exploitation. They can be robbed while selling and are afraid to return home for fear of being beaten by their “aunty”. Some prefer staying on the street asking for help, and a “good Samaritan/stranger” may take him/her to his own dwelling with a promise to send him/her back to school. Girls are especially at risk of sexual exploitation and abuse in this situation [11] .

Street food vendors play an important role in providing affordable cooked food to low-income people, based upon popular traditional recipes [12] . However, they generally do not have clean spaces to store, prepare and sell [13] . Washing their hands, utensils, and dishes is often done in buckets or bowls using the same water [14] . Some of these vendors sell their food just beside a rubbish dump or gutters where broken pipes lead to open sewers running side-by-side with leaky water pipes.

What role does government play in food safety? What are the hygienic practices by food handlers to protect food? How can food safety be improved?

This study used a qualitative approach to allow respondents to explain what they know about food safety and their coping practices. The interview guidelines with open-ended questions were developed in English, pre-tested using the local dialect “Krio” and revised as shown in Figure 1. Each interview started with consent procedures.

There is an estimated 5386 “food service providers” in the WAU and WAR [15] . There are 50 formal markets in the WAU (40) and WAR (10). In both districts, there are major “hubs”. In the WAU the largest are at Douff Cut (including Bombay and Mallama Thomas Street), Lumley, Portee, Low-cost-Kissy, Peace (including Public Works Department (PWD), Old Road), Calaba and Congo Town. In the WAR the largest are at Waterloo, Jui, Grafton Market, Funkia and Tombo.

Convenience sampling of vendors were interviewed including street traders, “cookri”, Ataya Base, Bean-salad, Fry-fry, restaurants, roast meat/pepper-soup/cakes vendors, and door-to-door vendors that were within or around these hubs. Convenience sampling of consumers near these vendors participated based on their willingness to participate.

Using the Lemeshow’s sample size formula (n = (Z²*p*q)/E²) and the finite population correction:

n ′ = ( n ∗ N ) / ( n + N ) [16] ,

where n represents the required sample size,

Z—Z-Score (1.96).

p—Standard deviation = 0.5.

q—1 – p = 0.5.

E—the margin of error =0.5.

and N is the total population size of 5386.

n = (Z² * p * q)/E².

n = (1.96² * 0.5 * 0.5)/(0.05²).

n = 384.16 (approximately).

The finite population size:

n' = (n*N)/(n + N).

n' = (384*5386)/(384 + 5386).

n' = 2,079,744/5770.

n' = 361.

Therefore, the adjusted sample size is 85% (“safest” choice) of the finite population since the sample size required is largest when p = 0.5. Therefore, the adjusted sample size of respondents (Consumers and Vendors) recruited was 309.

Key informants were purposively selected. In each of the 12 Markets, one market keeper, one chairman or chairlady or taskforce keeper were selected for interview. We have adopted an interactive semi-structured interview guideline for flexibility of responses and if an unexpected issue is raised then we are free to follow that line of enquiry. The questions were on the conditions in the market (Water supply, Toilet facilities, Storage facilities, Waste facilities, Plans for improvements, food safety surveillance, and daily charges in the markets). We had a free-flow discussion with other key informants working in office setting such as FCC using the same approach and questions on plans to improve the markets places.

A total of 29 key informants were interviewed: Freetown City Council (1), Market Women Association (1), Ministry of Trade and Industry (1), Traders Union (1) and Consumer Protection Agency (1), Formal market officials (12), and Chairladies/Chairmen/Market Taskforce (12).

A further 309 interviews were conducted (WAU: 206, WAR: 103) with vendors and consumers as shown in Table 1. A total of 55 respondents were from formal markets, 54 cookri/restaurants, 45 street traders and 7 others (vendors of Acheke, Lafidi, Beans-Salad, etc.), and 148 consumers.

Key Themes Identified (amongst vendors and consumers)

The findings indicated a limited range of understanding and practices regarding food safety in the Western Area. Food vendors especially lacked training on food safety and had inadequate facilities.

Collectively, government should collaborate with local market authorities and stakeholders to intensify food surveillance on proper hygiene practices, proper food handling, storage, and measures to prevent unsafe food.

The current “Food and Feed safety Act of SL 2017” speaks more on imported, exported and formal businesses, with emphasis on certification, licensing, offences and penalties. There is need to incorporate local content food safety Act, with guidance on Food safety management for restaurants, “cookri-baffa”, cafés/ Ataya Base, street vendor, and other small businesses. Government should operationalize the Food and Feed safety Act of SL 2017 by establishing a commission/regulatory “Authority” that ensure compliance to food safety laws, develop full food safety guidance (cross-contamination, cooking, cleaning etc.), and provide formal training on food hygiene and safety to all food actor in strengthening the food system.

Key interventions can be implemented by government and partners to improve food safety include: 1) improvement on water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in local markets by installing access to safe drinking water, improve toilet sanitary, proper cleaning of market environment, and effective waste disposal infrastructure to ensure food safety; 2) Develop a basic food safety training manual for formal and informal food vendors, emphasizing proper hygiene practices, food handling, storage, and measures to prevent contamination. The key points should be developed, pre-tested and distributed in an innovative fashion so that the illiterate can comprehend the messages delivered for example as images on their mobile phones. All members of the Market Women’s Association should be linked on a WhatsApp group and regularly be sent these key messages with a feed-back mechanism to ensure the message has been seen and understood/ recommendations for modifications; 3) install proper storage facilities and practices to mitigate the risks associated with pests and environmental conditions; and 4) raise awareness (using various channel of communications) about proper food handling, hygiene practices, and the potential health risks of consuming unsafe food.

Whilst these findings are similar to those of many cities that are rapidly expanding in the developing world it is evident that efforts have been and are being made to improve and expand infrastructure.

One area that hasn’t achieved much government or donor attention to date is the formal training of food vendors whether they be in formal markets or operational as “street-traders/cookri”. This was identified as a Priority Complex Problem by the recent Africa Cities Research Consortium report. Providing flexible training using innovative, part-time mobile technologies designed for the semi-literate/illiterate was suggested.

This study suggests that the understanding of food safety though weak is greater than the measures put into practice due to insufficient WASH infrastructure and food storage facilities. Administrations have made and are continuing to making efforts to improve WASH and waste management but the challenges or a rapidly growing and urbanising setting are greater than the effort and funding obtained to date.

The authors would like to thank all the Market Chairmen and Chairladies including all the key informants interviewed for their collaboration during the field survey. Our appreciation to the final year students of Milton Margai Technical University who participated as field workers (Kabba Kamara, Mariama Musa, Kadiatu Grace Koroma, Binta Jolloh, Kadiatu Marrah, and Sia Nusu Foday-Ngongou) for their cooperation and patience during the fieldwork.

Throughout the research process, stringent data security measures are upheld, including the secure storage of audio recordings and any associated notes. All response and analysis are available: Food Safety Data Consumers and Sellers. The Centre for Development and Food Safety (SL) Limited, archives all responses on site, which will not be shared to maintain confidentiality.

Funding for this study was made possible by the generous support from the Centre for Development and Food Safety (SL) Limited, Board Council Chairperson. The funder had no role in the design, data collection, and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Ethical clearance was obtained from the Sierra Leone Ethics and Scientific Review Committee at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. The optional nature of the study (that participants could refuse to answer questions if they were uncomfortable, that from the study at any time in which case none of their data would be used) was explained verbally. All the respondents granted informed written consent to participate and all data was anonymized. Confidentiality was assured.

HT designed and conducted the study. HT, AKK, KK, MM, KGK, BJ, KM and SNFN participated in the fieldwork and compiled the data. AKK analysed and interpreted the data. HT drafted and PJK, and MH reviewed and revised the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

All the authors have confirmed that there is no competing interest.

Kanu, P.J., Turay, H., Kandeh, A. and Hodges, M. (2023) Environment and Awareness Influencing Food Safety in the Western Area, Sierra Leone. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 14, 1013-1030. https://doi.org/10.4236/fns.2023.1411064