Food Safety Knowledge and Practice of Street Food Vendors in Rural Northern Ghana

Food safety amongst street food vendors is becoming a major public concern especially in urban areas of the developing world where this industry is expanding rapidly. There is rarely any information on street food safety issues in rural northern Ghana where this industry is equally growing rapidly. We therefore conducted this study to assess the knowledge level and evaluate food safety and hygiene practices amongst street food vendors in a rural district of northern Ghana. A cross sectional study was carried out in the Nadowli district where 200 street food vendors were randomly selected from of both densely and none densely populated areas of food vendors. Knowledge level amongst vendors concerning food safety practices was 100%. Although over 96% washed their hands after some major activities, about 13% of them did not use soap. The main storage forms of leftover foods were consumption by friends and family members (13%), reheating (13%) and refrigeration (11.5%). Water storage containers were also found to be used for other activities. 71% of the vendors had undergone medical screening despite a high knowledge level (100%) of its importance. Street food vendors in this rural northern setting generally have a high knowledge level on food safety issues but however do not translate this knowledge into practice.