Microbial Profiling Of Street Vended Foods And The Assessment Of Food Handler Kaps In Maseru, Lesotho

Abstract

Street food vending has over the years become more popular in developing countries. This is because it requires less capital to start, making it an easy business for those with low incomes. Street food vending is described as the sale of ready-to-eat food and beverages in and around public places. This study was conducted to investigate the safety of foods sold in around the taxi and bus rank areas in Maseru, Lesotho. Three aspects were surveyed in this study. The first survey was on the knowledge, attitudes and practices of food handlers and the general perspectives of consumers about street food vending in Maseru. Secondly, the microbial quality of food and the hygiene status of food contact surfaces and food handler hands were evaluated, and lastly, the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of organisms obtained was assessed. A total of 58 food handlers and 93 consumers were involved in this study, and 30 food samples were collected for microbial analysis. For the antimicrobial susceptibility test, seven bacterial isolates were evaluated. In this study, there were more female food handlers (n=35, 60%) than male food handlers (n23, 40%) and a majority of the food handlers had not received any food safety training (60%). On average the street food vendors who participated in this study were said to have poor food safety knowledge since they scored (49%±11). However, food handlers in this study were found to have good attitude towards food safety since none of the food handlers scored below 50%. Additionally, all food handlers in this study (100%) reported that they use sanitizers when washing service utensils and a substantial amount of the food handlers (84%) said they check the shelf life of food at the time of delivery or purchase. These are some of the good practices that help ensure the safety and quality of food produced. In this study there were more male consumers (n=59, 63%) than female consumers (n=34, 37%), and police officer (24%) and taxi drivers constituted the majority of consumers. The microbial analysis of food samples showed that there was more microbial contamination (TVC) in vegetables (10.91 Log10 cfu.ml) than in chicken samples (5.45 Log10 cfu/ml). With regards to food contact surfaces and food handler hands hygiene status (TVC), there was more contamination on the left hands (7.21 cfu/cm2) than on right hands (6.82 cfu/cm2), and tables had the lowest counts among the three sampled surfaces (6.89 cfu/cm2). The antimicrobial susceptibility test carried out in this study showed that all isolated were multidrug resistant to at least two or more of the antibiotics used. This ability of microorganisms to develop resistance to more antibiotics daily could be due to poor infection control, inappropriate food handling, and failure to prudently use antibiotics. In conclusion the microbial analysis results collaborated those of the surveys which showed that food handlers had poor food safety knowledge and exhibited negative attitudes towards some of the concepts of food safety hygiene. Furthermore, the results of this study should provide the government of Lesotho with enough evidence to show the need for improvement of mitigation procedures and appropriate interventions for the development of the street food trade and public health.