Abstract:
Introduction: Unsafe food supply in street play a significant role in food borne disease burden as well as economic burden. Globally, due to consumption of contaminated food, 600 million illnesses, 420 000 deaths and the loss of 3 million healthy years of life. In Ethiopia, food safety is also a serious public health issues like other developing countries. Improper food handling practices and lack of knowledge on food hygiene and safety among food handlers were implicated as a vehicle for the transfer of food pathogens that cause food borne disease outbreaks. Therefore, this is the first original study to assess level of food hygiene and safety knowledge and practice among street food vendors at Addis Zemen town, Northwest Ethiopia.
Objective: To assess food safety practice level and its associated factors among street food vendors in Addis Zemen town, Northwest Ethiopia, 2022
Methods: Cross-sectional study was employed among 422 street food vendors in Addis Zemen town. Simple random sampling technique with proportional allocation was applied for selections of the study participant. Data entry was done by Epi data version 3.1 and the data was exported to SPSS version 26 for cleaning, editing and analysis. Binary and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify determinant variables of food safety and hygiene practice. Crude and adjusted odds ratios were used to determine the significance and strength of association at 95% confidence interval.
Results: The finding revealed that, three-fourth 319(75.6%) and around half 228(54.0%) of the participants have good knowledge and practice, respectively. Participants having second education (AOR= 2.70, 95%CI :( 1.02-7.12), higher educational level (diploma and above) ( (AOR=11.11, 95%CI, (3.31-37.23),training on food safety (AOR=2.57, 95%CI, (1.25-5.29), regular inspection by health professionals(AOR=4.32,95%CI,(2.11-8.83), higher level of income((AOR=7.87, 95%CI, (3.33-18.62) and good food safety and hygiene knowledge(AOR =7.35, 95%CI, (3.58-15.07) were positively associated with good food safety and hygiene practice.
Conclusion and recommendation: The practice and knowledge of study participants on food hygiene and safety is low. Only half of the study participants had good level of practice. Knowledge, Educational status, training, inspection by professionals and wealth index were independent predictors of food safety and hygiene practice. Training, regular supervision by public health professionals and provide information shall be given on regular base to street food vendors by concerned bodies.
