Abstract:
Food vendors play a critical food safety role in the “farm to plate” continuum that is
necessary for the prevention and control of food borne diseases and therefore, any lack
of its understanding by the food vendors poses a serious challenge to food safety. the
aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and hygienic practices of food
vendors, describe the knowledge of vendors with regard to food safety and hygiene,
determine the attitudes of vendors towards food safety and hygiene, factors that
contribute to contamination of foods vending on the street in El ouzozab area of
Khartoum City. The study in El ouzozab area South of Khartoum City using
standardized face to face survey tool containing 41 questions to test food safety
knowledge, attitudes and the practices about 170 street vendors in the study were
choosing randomly and 6 samples of different site were taken from ready to eat meals in
sterile containers and sent to laboratory to isolation food borne bacteria, (TVCs) and
bacteria speciesSalmonella, Echerichia coli and Staphylococcus species. The analysis of
demographic characteristics revealed that the most participants were females 60 percent
and the majority of them age > 40 years (43.5) percent, most of the vendors were
illiterate (44.1%) and most of them were married (64.2%). Concerning health and
personal hygiene knowledge, these people agree that one of the most important
.9%). 22responsibilities of the food handlers is washing hands to food safety measures (
Most of respondents knew that lack of hygiene cause food-borne disease and some of
them recognized the terms food contamination and foodborne diseases. The result of
isolation was negative no pathogenic bacteria, TVCs Less than the pathogenic limit,
because samples were taken from cooked meals. Observation for street vendors showed
that the saving food hygiene is very difficult to practice on street in setting where
resources are scarce and surroundings are of low environmental and sanitary standards.
The public health management of food vending services should involve the development
of strategies that equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to provide vending
services with a hygienic and safe manner
