KNOWLEDGE, AND ATTITUDES OF STREET FOOD VENDORS TOWARDS FOOD SAFETY AS PERCEIVED AMONG RESIDENTS OF KWARA STATE

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate (i) knowledge, and (ii) attitudes towards food safety of street food
vendors as perceived among residents in Kwara State. A descriptive research design of the survey type was adopted for
the study. The population for the study comprised all residents (both male and female) residing in Kwara State. A Multi-
stage sampling techniques was used to select one thousand (1000) respondents. Developed structured questionnaire which
was validated by 3 experts in the Health Education was used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was
carried out using split-half method using Spearman Brown Prophecy Formula and a coefficient of 0.76 was obtained. The
data collected were subjected to frequency counts and inferential statistics of Chi-square to analyze the postulated
hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance using SPSS Version 23.0.
The findings of the study showed that:
i. level of knowledge of street food vendors significantly have influence towards foods safety, because cal. χ2 value
(162.51) > critical value (12.59) at df of 6.
ii. attitude of street food vendors significantly have influence towards foods safety, because cal. χ2 value (92.74) >
critical value (12.59) at df of 6.
The study concluded that level knowledge and attitude of street food vendors have influence towards foods safety. The
study recommended that Government should conduct special food safety training for street food vendors in accordance
with global health guidelines; and also relevant regulatory bodies to enforce laws to limit the risk of food contamination
by food handlers.