Food Safety and Hygienic Practices Among Food Vendors in Egbeda Local Government Area, Ibadan Oyo State

The aim of the study is to analyse food safety and hygiene practices among food vendors in Egbeda local government area of Oyo state. Well-structured questionnaire was used with an interview schedule to obtain relevant information from 120 respondents. The respondents were selected through purposive sampling technique. The data for this study were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics that were used include frequency counts, percentage, mean. The inferential statistics include Pearson product moment correlation (PPMC).The results that 80% of the respondents were female with mean years of 37. Also their highest literacy level was secondary education. Majority (80%) are married with household size of 5 members, majority prepare ready to eat food, majority(57.5%) are experienced and above average(55.8%) had training in food service, majority of the respondent(95.8%) had personal savings as their major source of income and 55% of the respondents are Christians. The results showed that 66.7% of the respondents were involved in food trade as their primary occupation. The result also revealed that some of the selected socio-economic variables such as age(x=0.248**; p 16??/m:t>"> 0.06), years of experience (x=0.349**;p 16??.000) "> respectively exhibited significant relationship with the respondent knowledge of food safety and hygiene practices. It was recommended that food vendors should use personal protective equipment (like nose/face mask, apron) during food preparation, Government should provide water source (tap water) to solve the inadequacy of water supply faced by the respondents. The study concluded that majority had knowledge of food safety and hygiene and practice good food safety and hygiene. Keywords: food safety, Hygiene, Analysis, vendor DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/109-02 Publication date:June 30th 202