Microbial Assessment and Food Hygienic Practices among Street Food Vendors in Dodoma city, Tanzania

Dr. Carolyne C. Ruhembe & Dr. Zawadi Richard Juma
St. John’s University, Tanzania
Email: zrichard@sjut.ac.tz

Abstract: Safe food handling in the market is an important practice to protect the people from foodborne illnesses. Bacteria count as a key factor in assessing the quality and safety of food. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing microbial and food hygienic practices among street food vendors in Dodoma city. The study employed cross-sectional observational descriptive design. The study used observation, laboratory experimentation and questionnaire for data collection. Five wards were selected randomly as research sites. A total of 50 food samples which included vegetables like tomatoes, onions, spinach, Chinese, and cabbage obtained from five different wards were tested. The findings revealed that 30% of samples were contaminated with E-coli bacteria while 70% were not contaminated with Escherichia coli. Findings show that only 29.6% of respondents/vendors had food processing and handling college level knowledge while 70. 4% didn’t have any formal education related to food handling except for home and self-online learning. Overall, the findings indicated that food safety and food quality among street food vendors is still low and poorly practiced. The study recommends that basic food vending training and certificate should be provided to street food vendors to qualify them for vending businesses, regular inspection and monitoring should also be done to ensure the quality and safety food measures are followed and set into safe food code practices.