Street Food Venders’ Perspectives of Hygiene Practices of Street Food Vendors in Basic Schools in Sissala East District of Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the street food vendors’ perspective of food hygiene, as well as 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 in the Sissala East District of Ghana.  The purposive sample technique was used to select thirty (30) street food vendors from seven basic schools. The data were gathered by administering interview guide and observation guide. Frequencies and percentages were used in analysing the data. It was found that some street food vendors observed food hygiene, personal and environmental hygiene practices to some extent. The study also revealed that majority of the food vendors observe food hygiene practices such as using separate equipment for serving cooked and raw food, serve food with fork or spoon, serve food with cup or plate, and keep their equipment clean, have containers for washing dishes, wear clean clothes. However, majority of the food vendors do not keep food warm, serve food with bare hands and do not provide drying racks for cleaned utensils.

Keywords: Health, Food-borne diseases, Contamination and temperature