Published on October 2020 | Food Safety

Food Safety Practices among Street Food Vendors in Diplo, Sindh, Pakistan

Diplo town lack food industry, market places coined with food streets. Vendors role to ascertain public health by conserving safety of food chain. Food can be contaminated like improper processing operations, lack of personal hygiene, dirt, dust, smokes, etc. among vendors. Aim: The present study designed to know the level of alertness of food vendors to food safety and hygiene practices by observing and record the corona virus disruption of their business. Materials and methods: For that, a random selection of 20 vendors from Diplo was done. A detailed questionnaire was used in order to obtain the data. Results: It was found that majority approximately 80% of the vendors were of the age group 20-30 years and were unmarried, out of these about 45% (primary education) showing a dishonorable arrogance to food preparation and selling. Almost 95% not covered food while rest 5% were lacking sufficient covering arrangements and apparels. Hence, >85% of food shops were unprotected to insects (i.e. flies, mosquitoes,) regardless of the type of cart. The 99% vendors used water from bore wells and hand pumps for food preparation. However, about 80% of these vendors showed strong agreement that the food may be fouled with microbes, insects, dust particles, food coloring, as well as different spices used while preparations. Also, various malpractices and unhygienic conditions during the food preparation may lead to food borne outbreaks. Persistence of different food borne ailments result in morbidity and sudden mortality. Conclusions: It is concluded that mostly vendors are unaware about the basic hygiene methods & personal hygiene of their own.