Determinants of food safety practice and knowledge level among food vendors in Ado-odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria

Background: Poorly prepared food has been attributed to many deaths over the years, and thousands of people around the world are at risk of foodborne diseases. Thus, the place of food vendors in ensuring safe handling practices in food preparation is of great importance. The objectives of the study were to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of the food vendors, examine food safety knowledge and practice level as well as to determine the factors influencing food safety practice among food vendors in the study area.Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was adopted and multistage sampling technique was used to sample 120 food vendors in the study area. A structured questionnaire designed to meet the study objectives and also validated by the experts in the team was used to elicit information on the socio-economic characteristics, food safety knowledge and food safety practices. The data collected were subjected to descriptive analysis, mean criterion and logit regression using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20.Results: The findings indicated that the majority (87.5%) of the food vendors are female, with a mean age of 36.8 years. The food vendors (84.4%) have good knowledge of food safety but poor practice levels, as the mean criterion value of 1.4 obtained from the study was significantly lower than the standard mean criterion value of 2.5 at 1 percent significance level. Food vendor's age (β = -0.19, p < 0.01) and monthly income (β = 2.77, p < 0.01) significantly impacted food safety practices.Conclusion: Food vendors in the study area have a sufficient understanding of food safety, however the level of food safety practice is low. Educative programmes on proper food handling practices is crucial.