Food safety knowledge and practices of street vendors in the city of Gizan, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate food safety knowledge and practices of street vendors in Gizan city, using standardized survey tool containing 25 questions to test food safety knowledge and practices of 50 street food vendors. The analysis of demographic characteristics revealed that all the participants were males and the majority of age group of 21-30 years (40%). Most of these vendors have primary school certificate (38%) and most of them are married (60%). Concerning health and personal hygiene knowledge ,these people agreed that hand washing was necessary (52%) and bathing regularly (74%). Also 76% of the respondents washing utensils with soap, but some of the participants were able to identify the term of food-borne illness. In this regard, they assumed that the most common contaminants were food colours, flavours and spices (70%). Sixty two samples of food were taken (30 grams) in sterile containers. Bacterial total viable count (TVCs) was carried out. The results of the TVCs revealed statistical significance difference of all types of food (P>0.05). Isolation and identification of bacteria in different types of food were Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp, Echerichia coli and Bacillus spp. The saving of food hygiene is difficult to practice on street in settings where resources are scarce and surroundings are of low environmental and sanitary standards.