BACTERIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF STREET FOODS, AND KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF STREET FOOD VENDORS AND CONSUMERS ABOUT FOOD SAFETY IN ADAMA TOWN

Rapid urbanization leads many inhabitants of our young cities to adopt collective food for their daily nutritional needs. This situation may be a risk for consumers due to microbial contamination from street environment and unsafe practices related to hygiene. This study aimed on the bacteriological quality of the food sold in the streets, assessed the food safety knowledge, attitudes and food handling practices of vendors and consumers of street foods in Adama. A Questionnaire and a checklist were used to collect the data. A total of 120 consumers and 60 vendors participated in the study; 60 stalls were observed and 56 food samples (16 ‘Bread’, 12 ‘Bonbolino’, 16 ‘Potato chips’ and 12 ‘Spaghetti’) were aseptically collected from four locations of Adama (Amade, Bus Terminal, Posta Bet and Meberat Hail). Interview and observational assessments were used to collect data from street food vendors. Of the 60 vendors, who participated in the study, 78.3% were female and 85% did not have any training in food safety while among 120 consumers 34.2% of them were female and 65.8 were male, 112 (93.3%) did not have any food safety training. The 59 (98.4%) of vendors and 119 (99.2%) of consumers were aware of the importance of hand washing in prevention of food borne diseases. In the observational part of the study, it was found that 21(35%) of the stalls consisted of canopy on the side of the street. In 48.3% of the cases the food was prepared on site. In 43.3% of the cases, flies and animals were evident around the stall and 51.7% did not have access to potable water. Analysis of the food samples revealed that the level of aerobic mesophilic counts ranged from 3 log10 cfu/ml - 4.9log10 cfu/ml. The mean total aerobic mesophilc bacterial count of all food samples were below the acceptable limits (1x105CFU/ml)). The mean coliforms and total fecal counts were 3.5±0.9log10 CFU/ml and 3.2±0.5log10 CFU/ml, respectively). The mean value of fecal coliform count was above the acceptable limit which is the absence in 25g of readyto-eat foods, the mean of total coliform in “spaghetti” 4.2±0.8log10 CFU/ml was only above the acceptable limits (1x 104 CFU/ml), the rest food samples total coliform counts were below the standard. The total aerobic bacteria, hygiene lack indicator organisms as coliforms and fecal coliforms detected in the street vended foods collected from selected places in Adama. This revealed that lack of personal hygiene, improper handling of food, access of potable water and lack of food safety training were the associated risk factors to contamination of street vended foods in Adama, regular inspections of food premises and food safety practice of food vendors is recommended as one of the measures to ensure improvement of the quality of street foods.