Microbial Implications in Vended Street Foods in Kumasi, Ghana

Abstract

Street foods are foods and beverages that are ready to be eaten and usually sold on the streets. This practice is common in the heart of cities in Ghana providing valuable services by supplying easy access of food to the public at a low cost. However, the safety of these foods is not assessed, in particular, the evaluation of the handling that can result in a contamination. In this study, we assessed the microbial contamination due to the handler involved in the processing of the ready-to-eat-foods (RTE) and with the use of a survey researchers highlighted the critical points in order to assess the hygiene practices observed. The study recruited 45 vendors using the random sampling method. Water samples were collected aseptically from the container where the food handlers use in washing their hands during the production of RTE. A structured questionnaire and an observational checklist were used to gather environmental and personal hygiene data from the vendors. Samples were analysed for the detection of different microbiological parameters including food-borne pathogens and 16 resulted positive (37.21%) for Escherichia coli, 12 (27.91%) for Salmonella spp., 8 (18.60%) for Staphylococcus aureus and 7 (16.28%) for Klebsiella spp. These results highlighted the importance of different management of the critical points in the RTE production, including guidelines for vendors, in order to guarantee the safety of handled foods that must be taken in consideration will from policy makers in order to guarantee the hygiene practices of these businesses.