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Assessment of Hygienic and Food Handling Practices among Street Food Vendors in Nakuru Town in Kenya

Received: 22 October 2014     Accepted: 31 October 2014     Published: 10 November 2014
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Abstract

Withstanding the test of time, the precarious working condition; and the ministry of public health and sanitation not acknowledging their existence, street food vendors continue to feed more than 50% of the urban population. Whether illegally into the market system or not, the reality is that the unsuspecting public continue to put itself at risk by consuming foods that are not monitored. It is from this background that the study sought to assess the hygienic and food handling practices of the street food vendors in Nakuru town. The aim of this paper is to empower the general public especially those who consume street foods. The study population was all street food vendors. The target population was all street food vendors who cook and sell cooked foods on the street, while the accessible population was all street food vendors who meet the inclusion criteria within Nakuru central business district. A cross-sectional study design was used. A sample size of 384 was arrived at by use of Fischer’s et al, 2008, formula. The study employed cluster sampling design (Mugenda et al, 2003). The central business district was then clustered into four quadrants and proportionate sampling was done. A sampling frame of street food vendors was developed from each cluster and randomly sampled to identify the required number of respondents, (Mugenda et al., 2003 and Ahuja et al., 2006). Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. Pre-tested and standardized structured questionnaires and observation checklist were used. Data was analyzed using Microsoft-excel and SPSS version 17 and presented descriptively. The findings showed that 83% had a cleaned their workplace, 54% of the vendors handled money and food indiscriminate, 44% had dust bins and 73% of respondents did not have their hair covered. The study recommends the concerned stakeholders to promote sanitation among the vendors.

Published in Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 2, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.sjph.20140206.19
Page(s) 554-559
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), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Street Food Vendors, Food Hygiene, Food Handler’s Hygiene, Street Food Contamination

References
[1] Curtis, V. (2002) Health in Your Hands: Lessons from Building Public–Private Partnerships for Washing Hands with Soap, WSP, LSHTM, World Bank, AED, BNWP, UNICEF, Washington, DC, handler assessment in Oregon. Food-borne pathogen and disease 6: 329 –335.
[2] Falkenstein Drew, (2010).Prevent Outbreaks: Send Sick Food handlers Home. http://foodafrica.nri.org/safety/safetypapers/ShaliniVytelingum.pdf.
[3] Lindquist, R., Anderson, J. Jong, B. and Norberg P. (2000). A summary of reported food borne diseases incident in Sweden, 1992 to 1999, Journal of Food action, 10:1317:1320.
[4] Muinde, OK. and E. Kuria. (2005). Hygienic and Sanitary practices of vendors of street foods in Nairobi, Kenya, African Journal of food Agriculture and Nutritional Development,: Volume 5 No 1 [Online] Available:http://www.ajfand.net/Issue-.Retrieved: 14/09/10
[5] Mugenda, OM. and Mugenda, AG. (1999). Research Methods: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Acts Press African Center for Technology studies. (ACTS) Nairobi, Kenya.
[6] Mwangi AM. (2002). Nutritional, hygienic and socio-economic dimensions of street foods in urban areas: the case of Nairobi. PhD-thesis Wageningen University Wageningen, Ponsen en Looijen.
[7] Obuobie, E., Keraita, B., Amoah, P., Cofie, O. O., Raschid-Sally, L. and Drechsel, P. (2006). Irrigated Urban Vegetable Production in Ghana: Characteristics.
[8] Public Health Act, (1980). Food Drug and chemical substances. CAPS 242 and 254: Laws of Kenya, pg42.Rev.1980.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Faith Muhonja, George Kobia Kimathi. (2014). Assessment of Hygienic and Food Handling Practices among Street Food Vendors in Nakuru Town in Kenya. Science Journal of Public Health, 2(6), 554-559. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20140206.19

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    ACS Style

    Faith Muhonja; George Kobia Kimathi. Assessment of Hygienic and Food Handling Practices among Street Food Vendors in Nakuru Town in Kenya. Sci. J. Public Health 2014, 2(6), 554-559. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20140206.19

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    AMA Style

    Faith Muhonja, George Kobia Kimathi. Assessment of Hygienic and Food Handling Practices among Street Food Vendors in Nakuru Town in Kenya. Sci J Public Health. 2014;2(6):554-559. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20140206.19

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjph.20140206.19,
      author = {Faith Muhonja and George Kobia Kimathi},
      title = {Assessment of Hygienic and Food Handling Practices among Street Food Vendors in Nakuru Town in Kenya},
      journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {2},
      number = {6},
      pages = {554-559},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.20140206.19},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20140206.19},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.20140206.19},
      abstract = {Withstanding the test of time, the precarious working condition; and the ministry of public health and sanitation not acknowledging their existence, street food vendors continue to feed more than 50% of the urban population. Whether illegally into the market system or not, the reality is that the unsuspecting public continue to put itself at risk by consuming foods that are not monitored. It is from this background that the study sought to assess the hygienic and food handling practices of the street food vendors in Nakuru town. The aim of this paper is to empower the general public especially those who consume street foods. The study population was all street food vendors. The target population was all street food vendors who cook and sell cooked foods on the street, while the accessible population was all street food vendors who meet the inclusion criteria within Nakuru central business district. A cross-sectional study design was used. A sample size of 384 was arrived at by use of Fischer’s et al, 2008, formula. The study employed cluster sampling design (Mugenda et al, 2003). The central business district was then clustered into four quadrants and proportionate sampling was done. A sampling frame of street food vendors was developed from each cluster and randomly sampled to identify the required number of respondents, (Mugenda et al., 2003 and Ahuja et al., 2006). Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. Pre-tested and standardized structured questionnaires and observation checklist were used. Data was analyzed using Microsoft-excel and SPSS version 17 and presented descriptively. The findings showed that 83% had a cleaned their workplace, 54% of the vendors handled money and food indiscriminate, 44% had dust bins and 73% of respondents did not have their hair covered. The study recommends the concerned stakeholders to promote sanitation among the vendors.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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    AU  - Faith Muhonja
    AU  - George Kobia Kimathi
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    AB  - Withstanding the test of time, the precarious working condition; and the ministry of public health and sanitation not acknowledging their existence, street food vendors continue to feed more than 50% of the urban population. Whether illegally into the market system or not, the reality is that the unsuspecting public continue to put itself at risk by consuming foods that are not monitored. It is from this background that the study sought to assess the hygienic and food handling practices of the street food vendors in Nakuru town. The aim of this paper is to empower the general public especially those who consume street foods. The study population was all street food vendors. The target population was all street food vendors who cook and sell cooked foods on the street, while the accessible population was all street food vendors who meet the inclusion criteria within Nakuru central business district. A cross-sectional study design was used. A sample size of 384 was arrived at by use of Fischer’s et al, 2008, formula. The study employed cluster sampling design (Mugenda et al, 2003). The central business district was then clustered into four quadrants and proportionate sampling was done. A sampling frame of street food vendors was developed from each cluster and randomly sampled to identify the required number of respondents, (Mugenda et al., 2003 and Ahuja et al., 2006). Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. Pre-tested and standardized structured questionnaires and observation checklist were used. Data was analyzed using Microsoft-excel and SPSS version 17 and presented descriptively. The findings showed that 83% had a cleaned their workplace, 54% of the vendors handled money and food indiscriminate, 44% had dust bins and 73% of respondents did not have their hair covered. The study recommends the concerned stakeholders to promote sanitation among the vendors.
    VL  - 2
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Author Information
  • MCHD, BSC Community Health and Development, Great Lakes University of Kisumu, Nakuru Town, Rift Valley Province, Kenya

  • MEH, BS Environmental Health, Egerton University, Nakuru Town, Rift Valley Province, Kenya

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