Food Safety and Hygiene Practices among Food Vendorsin Tertiary Hospitals Inplateau State Nigeria

Tolulope O Afolaranmi, Zuwaira I Hassan, Zaman Misari, Edemeka E Dan, Okonkwo CJudith, Nduonofit N Kubiat, Amina Mohammed, Tyavyar J Akosu

Background:Food safety and hygiene are essential in promoting and preserving the health of the consumers, given that food borne diseases are significant contributors to morbidity and mortality globally.Unhygienic food has been implicated in the outbreak of several food related illnesses with factors such as poor food handling practices of food vendors as the major culprit. Hence, this study was conducted to assess the level of food safety and hygiene practices and its determinants among food vendors in tertiary hospitals in Plateau state, Nigeria. Methodology: A cross sectional study carried out among 87 food vendors in food vending premises within the four tertiary health institutions in Plateau state, Nigeria using a multi-stage sampling technique and quantitative method of data collection. Epi info statistical software version7.0 was used for data analysis. Crude odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were used in this study with a p-value of ≤ 0.05 considered statistically significant.Result: The mean age of the food vendors in this study was 30.6 ± 9.0 years with slightly above half of the respondents 54.0% adjudged as engaging in good practice of food safety and hygiene. Attendance of training and availability of running water within the food vending premises showed statistically significant relationship with the practice of food safety.Conclusion: The level of practice of food safety and hygiene requires improvement as wholesomeness and utmost safety of food is essential to promoting and preserving health.