Assessment of Practice of Food Safety and Hygiene Among Food Vendors Within Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

Food handlers play a very important role in ensuring food safety and hygiene. This survey attempt to assess the practice of food safety and hygiene by food vendors. Questionnaires were administered to 200 respondents drawn from Jos by purposive and convenience sampling. The average age of respondents is 25 years with women constituting majority (76%). Majority (81.5%) of the respondents had no training on food preparation and handling. Seventy- five percent of the untrained food vendors do not practice proper food handling. Furthermore, 11% of the respondents had no formal education. A null hypothesis raised and tested at significant level of 0.05 indicated that a significant relationship exist between training and practice of food hygiene and safety principles. It was concluded that respondents’ knowledge about food safety and the practice of food safety and hygiene are low. Therefore government should organise a special training program for food vendors in order to ensure food safety and hygiene and should also institute a modality for regular monitoring of food vendors.