Food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Tshwane street vendors when managing fresh produce.

Abstract

Street vendors in developing countries continue to ensure guaranteed food supply to all members of the community (especially those from low-income groups) at very affordable rates as compared to formal food retailers. Food safety, however, is a major public concern amongst street vendors in South Africa in an industry that is rapidly growing, in particular amongst more vulnerable consumer groups. It has been noted in the literature that vendors’ deficit in terms of knowledge, attitudes and practices is not conducive to ensuring the delivery of safe food to consumers. Unfortunately, information regarding street food safety in South Africa tends to be limited. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices of street vendors in Tshwane when managing fresh produce. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect quantifiable data from respondents within the Tshwane metropolitan. The data analysis included both descriptive and inferential statistics using IBM SPSS (V.25). An Analysis of Variance as part of inferential statistics was run to identify any possibly significant differences between demographic groups. To identify possible relationships between knowledge, attitudes and practices, a Pearson’s Correlation Test was used. The results revealed that street vendors in Tshwane are well informed regarding issues relating to food handling (M=71%) compared to food preparation (M=45.33%), and storage (M=44.58%). The respondents demonstrated good knowledge of the importance of covering their hands with bandages or using gloves if and when they have sores or abrasions (M =82.3%), washing hands with soap and water before touching fresh produce (M=76.4%), and separating fresh produce from meats during storage (M=77%). The respondents, overall, demonstrated neutral attitudes towards food safety (M=2.4). Of all three dimensions (food handling, preparation, and storage), the respondents displayed positive attitudes towards food handling (M=2.53). In terms of food safety practices, the results indicated inconsistent practices amongst the respondents in this study, especially regarding issues relating to food preparation (M=2.1) and food storage (M=2.12). A significant difference in practices was found between vendors originating from Mozambique and South Africa and between genders (male and female). A strong relationship was found between food safety knowledge and practices, which potentially implies that training programmes/campaigns are a good idea and could potentially lower consumers’ vulnerability and exposure to foodborne illnesses. Key words: Food safety, street vendors, fresh produce, knowledge, attitudes, practices.