Food safety knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of street food vendors and consumers in Handan, a third tier city in China

Abstract

Background Food safety has long been the subject of scholarly research, and street food is a weak link in food safety supervision. Street food not only provides convenience for many people, but is also the livelihood for millions of low income people, making a great contribution to the economy of many developing countries. Methods Street food safety is essential, and yet it has been rarely studied in China. Therefore, a typical city in China was selected as the research object to assess food safety knowledge, attitudes, and street food suppliers and consumer behaviors using questionnaires based on previous studies, and considering China’s particular characteristics and reasonable impacts identified in previous studies, such as increased income, work experience, licenses, and locations. The food safety knowledge and attitude questionnaire conformed with the national conditions in China. It was used to assess the food safety knowledge and attitudes toward food suppliers and consumers, where three main areas were addressed in the surveys and statistical analysis, as follows. (1) Statistical information including gender, age, education, income, food safety training, and specific elements related to the work experience of suppliers. (2) Knowledge of food safety including the awareness of consumers and suppliers regarding food poisoning pathogens, food and personal hygiene, high-risk groups, and correct cleaning. (3) A list of food handling behaviors was used to determine the behaviors and characteristics of subjects. Results The results show that street food suppliers have generally poor food handling practices, and most are operating under unsanitary conditions. Food safety knowledge of street vendors in the High-tech Industries Development Zone was the lowest, most likely because these regions are located in rural-urban fringe zones, where education levels are generally relatively low. Food safety attitudes of the youngest consumers were significantly better than those of older age groups. Their educational level was also different, with correspondingly relatively high income for younger individuals. Most vendors chose locations near schools or supermarkets. Consumers and street food vendors had good understanding of food safety, but street vendors were relatively poor in carrying out safe food handling, with only 26.7% using or being fully equipped withhand-washing facilities, although more than 60% of vendors wore clean and tidy clothes and masks. Conclusions Street food vendor training should be prioritized to improve the safety of street food. Other policies and measures should also be propagated to improve the food safety knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of vendors in Handan. Steps should be taken to improve street food stall operating conditions and facilities, including providing clean protected structures, access to potable water, and efficient waste collection and disposal systems. These findings shoul...

Determinants of Hand Hygiene Practice at Critical Times among Food Handlers in Educational Institutions of the Sagnarigu Municipality of Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…All the study participants in this study were females, which agrees with similar studies across the globe 11,32,41,42 but differs from other studies that found males as the majority in food handling. [43][44][45][46] Perhaps, the notion that the food handling business is the sole responsibility of females in Ghana may be the reason for female domination in this study. The minimum and maximum age of the study participants were 17 and 58, respectively, with most of them within the age group 20 to 30 years confirming the fact that food handling business belongs to younger and middle-aged women in Ghana.…”

Determinants of hand hygiene practice at critical times among food handlers in educational institutions in Sagnarigu Municipality of Ghana: A cross-sectional study

“…All the study participants in this study were females, which agrees with similar studies across the globe 11,33,41,42 but differ from other studies that found males as the majority in food handling. [43][44][45][46] Perhaps, the notion that the food handling business is the sole responsibility of females in Ghana may be the reason for females domination in this study. The minimum and maximum age of the study participants were 17 and 58 respectively with most of them within the age group 20-30 years con rming the fact that food handling business belongs to younger and middle-aged women in Ghana.…”

Risk factors associated with retail meat vendors in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo

“…Studies suggested that vendors trained in food safety hygiene had a good level of knowledge and practices of hygiene when handling food (Rahman et al, 2012;Adane et al, 2018). Despite this, in China, there was no significant difference in food safety knowledge among vendors who had received training in food safety and those who did not train (Ma et al, 2019).…”

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