Hygienic Practices among Food Vendors in Educational Institutions in Ghana: The Case of Konongo
Hygienic Practices among Food Vendors in Educational Institutions in Ghana: The Case of Konongo
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Date
2013-06-24
Authors
Monney, Isaac
Agyei, Dominic
Owusu, Wellington
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Publisher
journal/foods
Abstract
: With the booming street food industry in the developing world there is an urgent
need to ensure food vendors adhere to hygienic practices to protect public health. This
study assessed the adherence to food hygiene practices by food vendors in educational
institutions in Konongo, Ghana. Structured questionnaires, extensive observation and
interviews were used for the study involving 60 food vendors from 20 basic schools.
Attributable to the influence of school authorities and the level of in-training of food
vendors, the study points out that food vendors in educational institutions generally
adhered to good food hygiene practices, namely, regular medical examination (93%),
protection of food from flies and dust (55%); proper serving of food (100%); good hand
hygiene (63%); and the use of personal protective clothing (52%). The training of food
vendors on food hygiene, instead of the level of education had a significant association
(p < 0.05) with crucial food hygiene practices such as medical examination, hand hygiene
and protection of food from flies and dust. Further, regulatory bodies legally mandated to
efficiently monitor the activities of food vendors lacked the adequate capacity to do so. The
study proposes that efforts should be geared towards developing training programmes for
food vendors as well as capacity building of the stakeholders
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Citation
Monney, I., Agyei, D., & Owusu, W. (2013). Hygienic Practices among Food Vendors in Educational Institutions in Ghana: The Case of Konongo. Foods, 2, 282-294.