Food Safety and Hygiene Practices among Food Vendors in a Tertiary Educational Institution in South Western Nigeria

Food-borne illness is a public health problem causing morbidity and mortality in general population. Many people die of food poisoning annually in Nigeria from foodborne pathogens from contaminated food and water consumption in emergent nations. Hence this study assessed the knowledge of food safety and hygiene practice among food handlers in a Nigerian University.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among food vendors and food handlers in Obafemi University Ile-Ife, South Western Nigeria. The vendors that participated in the study were 238 and had been on the job for not less than one year. Data was collected using 3- sectioned structured questionnaire, this was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.

The result showed that more than half of the respondents were female (58%), while (48.7%) of the respondents had completed training in food safety, of which (49.6%) have completed university education or currently enrolled in the university. Knowledge of food safety among respondents showed that 76 (31.9%) of respondents had adequate knowledge on transmission of food borne diseases while 160 (67.2%) had inadequate knowledge. Also, 115 (78.2%) of respondents had satisfactory safety hygiene practices and 28 (19.0%) had unsafe hygiene practices.

In the face of adequate knowledge on food safety among participants, the majority had unsafe hygiene practice, as most vendors do not wear a hat or cover hair when serving or preparing food. Thus vendors need education on safety hygiene practices knowing that knowledge without practice is bitty and fruitless.