Knowledge on Food Safety and Hygiene Practices among Street Food Vendors of Dhaka City

Abstract

Introduction: Food safety remains a consistent global health concern. Mishandling of food elevates the risk of contamination, posing potential health threats to consumers. The primary contributors to the spread of foodborne illnesses are often attributed to a lack of knowledge and improper hygiene practices among food handlers. Objectives: This paper study aimed to assess knowledge on food safety & hygiene among the street food vendors of Dhaka city Methods & Materials: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted across various areas within Dhaka city, including Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, and Mirpur, from June to mid-October 2023. A total of 246 male street food vendors irrespective of age, were purposively employed in this study. Results: This study showed that as per overall knowledge scoring, the most frequent 96(39.5%) vendors had satisfactory knowledge on food safety and hygiene followed, 82(33.7%) low level of knowledge and 65(26.7%) good level of knowledge. The result revealed that majority of the respondents 76 (31.3%) was in the age group of 36 to 45 years and all were male, maximum was Muslim 237 (97.5 %), married 183 (75.3%) and from urban slum dwelling 172 (70.80%). Out of the total respondents, 98(40.3%) vendors had achieved primary level of education while 67 (27.6 %) had no formal education. Conclusion: This study suggests that awareness program, training programs, hygiene promotion campaigns, related to food safety & hygiene need to be done targeting Street Food Vendors and related workforce to enhance their knowledge on food safety & hygiene.