KNOWLEDGE OF FOOD SAFETY AND HYGIENE PRACTICES AMONG FOOD VENDORS IN UGBOWO, OVIA NORTH EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

This project work provides a broad knowledge of food safety and hygiene practices among food vendors in Ugbowo, Ovia north east local government area, edo state. The purpose of the study is to investigate the perceived food hygiene practices of food vendors among University of Benin undergraduates. A descriptive survey, which is non-experimental was used for the research design, the purpose of descriptive survey research is to describe that which exist accurately and clearly as possible. The population of this study includes all the food vendors in Ugbowo. A total of 144 respondents were sampled for the study. The Non-probabilistic sample procedure was used to select respondents from the total population of over 144 food vendors in Ugbowo. The instrument used in this study is the questionnaire titled “knowledge of food safety and hygiene practices among food vendors in Ugbowo, Ovia north east local government area, edo state.” Data was analyzed using frequency counts and simple percentages. This method of data analysis of either positive or negative answer was based on percentage scores. Based on analysis of data the following conclusions were drawn concerning the research questions Based on the analysis of data, conclusions were drawn concerning the research question and it was inferred that food vendors have some inherent hygiene practices. These practices includes washing of hands after handling used dishes and utensils,. From this research, it shows it is observed that food vendors do not have formal knowledge about food safety practice and therefore they do not use a calibrated food thermometer to check if food is appropriately cooked.