Assessment of Food-Safety Status of Street-Vended Foods in Khartoum State - Sudan

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate food safety in street-vended foods in Khartoum city: any assessment of bacteriological profile and the factors that contribute to food contamination, using standardized survey tool containing 41 questions to test food safety knowledge and the practices about 30 street vendors in the study. The analysis of demographic characteristics revealed that the all participants were females and the majority of age group of 31- 40 years (53.3%) most of the vendors were with illiterate education (46.7%) and most of them were unmarried (60.0%). Concerning health and personal hygiene knowledge, these people agree that one of the most important responsibilities of the food handlers is washing hands to food safety measures (56.7%). Most of respondents failed to identified terms of food-borne disease. Seventy five (75) swap samples of different site were taken from hands of workers, knives, dishes, foods and surfaces of food preparation and taken in sterile containers. Bacterial total viable count (TVCs) was carried out. The result of the TVCs revealed statistical significance difference of all samples site (p>0.05). Isolation and identification of bacteria in different sample site were Salmonella spp, Staphylococcus spp, Echerichia coli and Streptococcus spp. The saving of food hygiene is very difficult to practice on street in setting where resources are scarce and surroundings are of low environmental and sanitary standards.