FOOD VENDING HYGIENE PRACTICES IN THE BOLGATANGA MUNICIPALITY OF THE UPPER EAST REGION

ABSTRACT The study set out to examine food vending hygiene practices among food vendors in the Bolgatanga municipality. The specific objectives were to examine the factors that influence the choice of location for food vending, examine the sanitary conditions of the physical environment of food vending, analyse the safety of food handling practices of food vendors, examine the institutional set-up governing safe practices of food vendors, and analyse the microbial content of food served by food vendors. The study used a mixed research approach, and also adopted a cross-sectional design. A total of 150 food vendors were purposively sampled from 10 communities in addition to trend of the environmental health related institutions and the health inspectors. Food samples from the vendors were sampled and subjected to microbial load analysis. The major findings of the study were that the most significant factor influencing the choice of location of food vendors is proximity to customers; the physical state of the food vending places was satisfactorily healthy; the safety of food vendors’ food handling practices was compromised; the institutional set-up was not effectively promoting conformance to the food vending controls; and most of the foods were contaminated above acceptable levels for consumption. The study recommended food vendors to practice proper personal hygiene and to avoid making direct skin contact with food. The Municipal Assembly and the Food and Drugs Authority were advised to advocate for no political neutrality in their duties and to advocate for provision of logistics to facilitate inspection