Food safety knowledge, attitude and practices of street food vendors and associated factors in Mekelle city, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the street food vendors' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding food safety as well as the associated factors that may affect those practices in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia. A community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted from February 2020 to August 2020 using a quantitative data collection method on a total of 185 street food vendors. The data was collected through face-to-face interviews via administered pre-tested structured questionnaire and an observational checklist. To determine the predictor variables linked to a high level of food safety practice, a multivariable logistic regression analysis with odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals was utilized. In this study, the majority-117(65%), 146(81.1%), and 106(58.9%)-had a good level of knowledge, a positive attitude, and a good level of practice regarding food safety, respectively. A Multivariable analysis result revealed that the street food vendors age (AOR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.14-0.77), monthly income (AOR: 5.2, 95% CI: 1.42-18.9), educational status (AOR: 0.07, 95% CI: 0.009-0.623), food vending experience (AOR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.22-1.34), food safety training (AOR: 0.490, 95% CI: 0.317-0.757), food safety knowledge (AOR: 1.04, 95% CI: 0.43-2.48) and food safety attitude (AOR: 1.22, 95% CI: 0.47-3.13) were found to be significantly associated with food safety practice. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that street food vendors had high levels of knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding food safety and hygiene, and that these practices were significantly associated with sex, monthly income, educational status, food vending experience, and food safety training. Therefore, all street food vendors in the study area should receive efficient and ongoing training on food safety practices, and additional research utilizing mixed methodologies (both quantitative and qualitative approaches) would be needed to reach more thorough results and corroborate our findings.