Assessment on the Knowledge of Food Vendors on Food Hygiene in Imo State

Assessment on the Knowledge of Food Vendors on Food Hygiene in Imo State

CHAPTER ONE

Main objective of the study  

The main objective of the study was to assess the level of food vendors practices among food vendors in Okigwe LGA

Specific research objectives  

The specific research objectives of the study are:

1. To assess the level of knowledge of food vendors practices among food vendors in Okigwe LGA
2. To investigate the status of the environment where the food is prepared and sold in relation to food hygiene and health among food vendors in Okigwe LGA
3. To assess how food is handled among food vendors in Okigwe LGA

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Concept of Food vendors

Hygiene is defined as the study and practice of keeping good health especially paying attention to cleanliness. It is the science of cleanliness or rules for healthy living (Kalua 2015). He further explained that hygiene is the study of cleanliness with the view to preventing diseases and promoting health thereby prolonging life. Hygiene is an old concept related to medicine, as well as to personal and professional care practices related to most aspects of living. In medicine and in home (domestics) and everyday life- settings, hygiene practices are employed as preventive measures to reduce the incidence and spreading of diseases. In the manufacture of food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and other products, good hygiene is a key part of quality assurance that is ensuring that the product complies with microbial specifications appropriate to its use.

According to Lutans, 2014 stated that hygiene is the science which teaches us how to keep healthy with simple law of health as applied to individual people. In general, hygiene means practices that prevent spread of disease caused by organisms. Since cleaning processes (for example. hand washing) remove infectious microbes as well as dirt and soil, they are often the means to achieve hygiene.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (2016) defined hygiene as an acts that can lead to good health and cleanliness, such as frequent hand washing, face washing and bathing with soap and clean water, practicing food vendors in many parts of the world can be difficult due to lack of clean water and soap. Hygiene is an act of keeping the human body as well as the environment clean. Hygiene as a general term that refers to the conditions and activities that are used to maintain health and safety with proper sanitation and personal cleanliness.

The word Hygiene refers to condition and practices that help to maintain and prevent the spread of diseases (WHO, 2014). Hygiene is a science that deals with the promotion and preservation of health. Sanusi, (2016) defined hygiene as the study and practice of keeping good health especially paying attention to cleanliness with the view to preventing diseases and promoting health thereby, prolonging life. Food vendors is not just about combed shiny hair and brushed teeth, it is important for workers health and safety in the working place. Workers who pay attention to food vendors can prevent the spread of germs and diseases, reduce their exposures to chemicals and contaminants and avoid developing skin allergies, skin conditions and chemical sensitivities, it also minimize the risk of infection and enhance overall health (Bubenik, 2013).

Food vendors may be described as the principle of maintaining cleanliness and   grooming of the   external body (Natze, 2017).    There   are   many contributory factors that make up food vendors with the main ones being hand washing, oral care, hair care, nail care, wound care, cleansing of personal utensils and preventing infection. He further explained that food vendors is as it says, personal. Everybody has their own habits and standards that they have been taught or have learned from others.  It is essentially for the’ promotion and continuance of good health. Food vendors involves those activities or practices performed byan individual to care for one’s bodily health and wellbeing, through cleanliness. Motivation for food vendors practice includes reduction of personal illness, healing from personal illness, optimal health and sense of wellbeing, social acceptance and prevention of spread of illness to others (WHO, 2016).

Food vendors is one of the mechanisms used for breaking disease transmission cycles. It also helps the individual to have a good aesthetic value by the people he/she is living with. Moreover, it is a good figure of better living style (Tadesse, 2013). Its practices include seeing a doctor, seeing a dentist, regular washing (bathing or showering) of the body, regular hand washing before and after eating, wearing clean clothing, washing of scalp and hair, brushing and flossing of the teeth, covering ones mouth while coughing, basic manicure and pedicure, genital hygiene and healthy eating (Oyibo, 2012).

Food vendors is therefore, a measure taken at individual level to promote personal cleanliness so that transmission of diseases from source to susceptible hosts is prevented. It can be seen that the most effective way in protecting the health of communities where treatment options are constraints due to lack of health care delivery systems is food vendors. Many health problems are due to poor hygiene behaviour (Tadesse, 2013). The benefits of safe water supply and sanitation efforts in a given community can easily be lost if the communities still carry on with their poor food vendors behaviour. To achieve these goals, hygiene education plays a central role and has to be applied on a sustainable way (Oyibo, 2012).

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The study is a descriptive cross sectional study employing mixed method of (qualitative and quantitative) data gathered using structured questionnaire, observation check list and interview guide. The data gathered comprises of the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents as well as their knowledge level on food vendors practices.

Sources of data

Data for the study was sourced from both primary and secondary sources.

Primary Data Sources

In this study, primary data was collected in Okigwe LGA among food vendors, and representatives of regulatory institutions. Among food vendors, data was gathered using a structured questionnaire consisting of closed ended questions with the aid of a web based software known as kobocollect. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected for the purposes of validation. An interview schedule was used to collect data from the regulatory institutions. The questions were sectioned according to the study objectives. The interviews were tape-recorded and later transcribed for analysis and interpretations.

CHAPTER FOUR  

PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

A total number of 174 food vendors were interviewed as against the earlier stated number of one hundred and ninety-one (191) signifying a response rate of 91.1%. The mean age of the respondents was 34.47 ± 13.92 years.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

From this study carried out to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of food vendors among food vendors in Okigwe coupled with the observations, the following inferences can be

drawn:

1. The level of knowledge of food vendors amongst the food vendors was high giving the fact that almost all the food vendors had never had any formal training on food safety. Again though, questions on which knowledge was tested were by no means exhaustive;
2. Food vendors‟ attitude towards hygiene practice was equally good. Again the scope of questions covered in assessing this could have been broadened to allow for better judgement of attitude;
3. Level of hygiene practice among the food vendors was however not encouraging with majority of them only having fair practice. A few of them still had hygiene practices that could be considered poor. Observation from the checklist analysis revealed that most of the restaurants had acceptable score with regards the practice of food vendors;
4. Pre-employment medical examination normally done to screen individuals for eligibility to be food vendors in Okigwe LGA was not accorded the importance that it deserved. However, on-the-job medical examination was given a little more attention though the frequency of such examination was lower than expected which should be, at least once every year;
5. Occurrence of two cases of chronic carrier of Salmonella, typhimurium and a case of carrier of Escherichia, coli in the gastro-intestinal tract are important findings as both organisms have the potential of causing food poisoning.

CONCLUSION

The knowledge and attitude about food hygiene amongst the food vendors was good. However, the practice of food vendors was only fair. Medical examination of the food vendors was not satisfactory and stool examination revealed few parasites and two organisms capable of causing food poisoning. Direct observation of hygiene practices amongst these handlers in the restaurants revealed that only about one third of the food vendors readily washed hands in the course of food handling.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings from this study, the following recommendations are proffered:

1. Any prospective food vendor seeking to be food vendors in Okigwe LGA should be compulsorily made to have pre-employment examination to assess his/her level of knowledge of food vendors by the sanitary health officer(s) of the environmental health unit in conjunction with the medical officer(s) of the University Health Services Department. This would enable the Health Department screen out those who might pose some threat to the university community as far as food safety is concerned.
2. After the individual has successfully scaled through the pre-employment examination, he/she should undergo a comprehensive medical examination, which the medical officer(s) of the university health services department should request and perform, to confirm or refute eligibility to run such a business. What is being done presently is not really encouraging as some food vendors get to undergo only periodic medical examination and not pre-employment medical examination.
3. The university’s rules and regulations concerning choice of site for restaurant, the requirements of the structure, standard hygiene practice etc should always be enforced by the health team of the environmental health unit of University Health Department through regular visitations to the restaurants and sanctioning of offenders to serve as deterrent.
4. Regular and periodic medical examinations, by the medical officers, for the food vendors should be a norm rather than the present unscheduled and infrequent examination being done. Also, the periodic inspection, by the university health team, of the various eateries should be improved upon. This should also include a check on the source(s) of water the restaurant uses for domestic activities and for drinking coupled with periodic microbial testing of prepared foods, fish, meat, vegetables/fruits and drinking water which the microbiologist would undertake;
5. There should be good communication system whereby the health team or the body charged with the responsibilities of managing all the eateries should be informed on time whenever a new food vendor is to be employed by the manager/manageress of any eatery;

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