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Hygiene Practices Among Food Vendors in Hohoe Township

Received: 2 September 2016     Accepted: 23 September 2016     Published: 17 October 2016
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Abstract

Background: Street food vending has become a very lucrative business across all parts of the globe. However, little attention has been given to the safety of such foods thus, becoming a great challenge to public health. This study was conducted to examine the hygiene practices observe by food vendors at sites where food is prepared and sold in the Hohoe Township. Method: This was a cross-sectional study which employed simple random sampling technique to select 187 respondents over the period of July to December, 2015. Chi square test was used to test for association between some selected variables at a significant level of 0.05. Data was entered into epi data version 3.1 and exported to Stata version 11 for analysis. Result: Of the 187 respondents, majority of 181(96.79%) were female with 113(60.43%) attaining the basic school education. About 35(18.7%) used their bare hands in picking food for customers with 149(78.92%) been medically screened. A little more than half (55.08%) did not cover their hair when selling and only 72(38.50%) wore apron during sales of food. One hundred and sixty (86.89%) sold food very close to open gutters but only 29(27.36%) paid attention to the cleanliness of such gutters. An association existed between level of education and knowledge on hygiene practices among respondents but was not significant [Chi square=1.3024, p value=0.729]. Also, an association existed between type of food vendor and knowledge on hygiene but not significant [Chi square=2.8331, p value=0.418]. Conclusion: Most food vendors in Hohoe have some fundamental knowledge on hygiene but this does not reflect in their routine practices. Periodic training and education of food vendors on hygiene and its standards can help ameliorate their practice on food hygiene.

Published in Central African Journal of Public Health (Volume 2, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.cajph.20160202.11
Page(s) 43-50
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Food Vendor, Hygiene Practices, Food Safety, Food and Water Hygiene, Food Borne Infections

References
[1] Choudhurg, M., Mahanta, L., Goswami, J., Mazumder, M. & Pegoo, B. (2011). Socio- economic profile and food safety knowledge and practice of street food vendors in the city of Guwahati, Assam, India. Food Control, 22 (2), 196-203.
[2] Osei, F. B. (2010). Spatial statistics of epidemic data: The case of cholera epidemiology Ghana. Universiteit Twente.; www.itc.nl/library/papers_2010/phd/Osei.pdf [Accesssed: 22/12/2014].
[3] Osei, F. B., Duker, A. A. & Stein, A. (2012). Evaluating spatial and space-time clustering of cholera in Ashanti-Region-Ghana. Cholera, Dr Sivakumar Gowder (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-51-0415-5, In Tech, Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/cholera/evaluating-spatial-and-space-time-clustering-of-cholera-in-ashanti-region-ghana. [Accessed: 22/12/2014.
[4] De Magny, G. C., Cazelles, B. & Guegan, J. F. (2006). Cholera threat to humans in Ghana is influenced by both global and regional climate variability, Eco Health, 2006, DOI: 10.1007/s10393-006-0061-5; http://gemi.mpl.Trd.fr/PDF/Magny.EH.2006.Pdf [Accessed: 20/9/2014].
[5] Chapman B, Eversley T, Fillion K, Maclaurin T, Powell D. (2010). Assessment of food safety practices of food service food handlers (risk assessment data): testing a communication intervention (evaluation of tools). J Food Prot. 73 (6): 1101-7.
[6] Asiedu, A. B. & Agyei-Mensah, S. (2008). Traders on the run: Activities of street vendors in the Accra Metropolitans Area, Ghana. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift-Norwegian journal of Geography, 62 (3), 191-202.
[7] Opare, J. K. L., Ohuabunwo, C., Afare, E., Wurapa Sackeyi, S. O., Der, J., Afakye, K. & Odei, E. (2012). Outbreak of cholera in the East Akim Municipality of Ghana following unhygienic practices by small scale gold miners. Ghana Medical Journal, 46 (3).
[8] Todd, E. C., Grig, J. D., Bartleson, C. A. & Michaels, B. S. (2009). Outbreaks where food workers have been implicated in the spread of food borne disease. Part 6. Transmission and survival of pathogens in the food processing and preparation environment. Journal of food protection, 72 (1), 202-219; www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iafp/2009/000000072/00000001/art00033. [Accessed: 22/12/2014].
[9] Mensah, P., Yeboah-Mawu, D., Owusu-Darko, K. & Ablordey, A. (2002). Street foods in Accra, Ghana: How safe are they? Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 80 (7), 546-554 www.sceilosp.org/scielo.php?pid=s0042- 96862002000700006&script=sci_arttext [Accessed: 24/12/2014].
[10] Ali, M., Lopez, A. L., You, Y., Kim, Y. E., Sah, B., Maskery, B & Clemens, J. (2012). The Gobal Burden of Cholera. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 90 (3), 209-218. www.scienlosp.org/scielo.php?pid=s0042-9684201200030001&script=sci_arttext [Accessed: 24/12/2014].
[11] Afele, M. (2006). Street food boom in Ghana spurs calls for better hygiene. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 84 (10), 772.
[12] Rheinlander, T., Oslen, M., Bakang, J. A., Takyi, H., Konradsen, F. & Samuelsen, H. (2008). Keeping up appearances; Perception of street food safety in urban Kumasi, Ghana. Journal of Urban Health, 85 (6), 952-964.
[13] Monney I., Agyei D., Ewoenam S. B., Campoare P. & Nyaw S (2014). Food hygiene and Safety Practices among Street Food Vendors: An Assessment of Compliance, Institutional and Legislative Framework in Ghana. Food and Public Health 2014, 4 (6): 306-315.
[14] Amposah G. A. & Anamoaba E. B. (2011). Evaluation of food hygiene knowledge attitudes and practices of food handlers in food businesses in Accra, Ghana. Food and nutrition sciences, 2011.
[15] Bulletin of the World Health Organisation (2006). 84 (10).
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  • APA Style

    George Edward Ntow, Mavis Pearl Kwabla, Joyce Der. (2016). Hygiene Practices Among Food Vendors in Hohoe Township. Central African Journal of Public Health, 2(2), 43-50. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20160202.11

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    ACS Style

    George Edward Ntow; Mavis Pearl Kwabla; Joyce Der. Hygiene Practices Among Food Vendors in Hohoe Township. Cent. Afr. J. Public Health 2016, 2(2), 43-50. doi: 10.11648/j.cajph.20160202.11

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    AMA Style

    George Edward Ntow, Mavis Pearl Kwabla, Joyce Der. Hygiene Practices Among Food Vendors in Hohoe Township. Cent Afr J Public Health. 2016;2(2):43-50. doi: 10.11648/j.cajph.20160202.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.cajph.20160202.11,
      author = {George Edward Ntow and Mavis Pearl Kwabla and Joyce Der},
      title = {Hygiene Practices Among Food Vendors in Hohoe Township},
      journal = {Central African Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {2},
      number = {2},
      pages = {43-50},
      doi = {10.11648/j.cajph.20160202.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20160202.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cajph.20160202.11},
      abstract = {Background: Street food vending has become a very lucrative business across all parts of the globe. However, little attention has been given to the safety of such foods thus, becoming a great challenge to public health. This study was conducted to examine the hygiene practices observe by food vendors at sites where food is prepared and sold in the Hohoe Township. Method: This was a cross-sectional study which employed simple random sampling technique to select 187 respondents over the period of July to December, 2015. Chi square test was used to test for association between some selected variables at a significant level of 0.05. Data was entered into epi data version 3.1 and exported to Stata version 11 for analysis. Result: Of the 187 respondents, majority of 181(96.79%) were female with 113(60.43%) attaining the basic school education. About 35(18.7%) used their bare hands in picking food for customers with 149(78.92%) been medically screened. A little more than half (55.08%) did not cover their hair when selling and only 72(38.50%) wore apron during sales of food. One hundred and sixty (86.89%) sold food very close to open gutters but only 29(27.36%) paid attention to the cleanliness of such gutters. An association existed between level of education and knowledge on hygiene practices among respondents but was not significant [Chi square=1.3024, p value=0.729]. Also, an association existed between type of food vendor and knowledge on hygiene but not significant [Chi square=2.8331, p value=0.418]. Conclusion: Most food vendors in Hohoe have some fundamental knowledge on hygiene but this does not reflect in their routine practices. Periodic training and education of food vendors on hygiene and its standards can help ameliorate their practice on food hygiene.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Hygiene Practices Among Food Vendors in Hohoe Township
    AU  - George Edward Ntow
    AU  - Mavis Pearl Kwabla
    AU  - Joyce Der
    Y1  - 2016/10/17
    PY  - 2016
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20160202.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.cajph.20160202.11
    T2  - Central African Journal of Public Health
    JF  - Central African Journal of Public Health
    JO  - Central African Journal of Public Health
    SP  - 43
    EP  - 50
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-5781
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20160202.11
    AB  - Background: Street food vending has become a very lucrative business across all parts of the globe. However, little attention has been given to the safety of such foods thus, becoming a great challenge to public health. This study was conducted to examine the hygiene practices observe by food vendors at sites where food is prepared and sold in the Hohoe Township. Method: This was a cross-sectional study which employed simple random sampling technique to select 187 respondents over the period of July to December, 2015. Chi square test was used to test for association between some selected variables at a significant level of 0.05. Data was entered into epi data version 3.1 and exported to Stata version 11 for analysis. Result: Of the 187 respondents, majority of 181(96.79%) were female with 113(60.43%) attaining the basic school education. About 35(18.7%) used their bare hands in picking food for customers with 149(78.92%) been medically screened. A little more than half (55.08%) did not cover their hair when selling and only 72(38.50%) wore apron during sales of food. One hundred and sixty (86.89%) sold food very close to open gutters but only 29(27.36%) paid attention to the cleanliness of such gutters. An association existed between level of education and knowledge on hygiene practices among respondents but was not significant [Chi square=1.3024, p value=0.729]. Also, an association existed between type of food vendor and knowledge on hygiene but not significant [Chi square=2.8331, p value=0.418]. Conclusion: Most food vendors in Hohoe have some fundamental knowledge on hygiene but this does not reflect in their routine practices. Periodic training and education of food vendors on hygiene and its standards can help ameliorate their practice on food hygiene.
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana

  • Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana

  • Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana

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