| المستخلص: |
Food vendors play a critical food safety role in the “farm to plate” continuum that is necessary for the prevention and control of food borne diseases and therefore, any lack of its understanding by the food vendors poses a serious challenge to food safety. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and hygienic practices of food vendors, describe the knowledge of vendors with regard to food safety and hygiene, determine the attitudes of vendors towards food safety and hygiene, factors that contribute to contamination of foods vending on the street in El ouzozab area of Khartoum City. The study in El ouzozab area South of Khartoum City using standardized face to face survey tool containing 41 questions to test food safety knowledge, attitudes and the practices about 170 street vendors in the study were choosing randomly and 6 samples of different site were taken from ready to eat meals in sterile containers and sent to laboratory to isolation food borne bacteria, (TVCs) and bacteria species Salmonella, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus species. The analysis of demographic characteristics revealed that the most participants were females 60 percent and the majority of them age > 40 years (43.5) percent, most of the vendors were illiterate (44.1%) and most of them were married (64.2%). Concerning health and personal hygiene knowledge, these people agree that one of the most important responsibilities of the food handlers is washing hands to food safety measures (22 .9%). Most of respondents knew that lack of hygiene cause food-borne disease and some of them recognized the terms food contamination and foodborne diseases. The result of isolation was negative no pathogenic bacteria, TVCs Less than the pathogenic limit, because samples were taken from cooked meals. Observation for street vendors showed that the saving food hygiene is very difficult to practice on street in setting where resources are scarce and surroundings are of low environmental and sanitary standards. The public health management of food vending services should involve the development of strategies that equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to provide vending services with a hygienic and safe manner.
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