Knowledge And Practice Of Food Hygiene Among Food Vendors In Emekuku Market Owerri North Local Government Area
INTRODUCTION
Food is anything which when taken into the body serves to nourish or build up the body tissues or to supply body health (Nurses Dictionary 2010).
Man is made up of what he eats. The constituents of food which are proteins carbohydrates, fats vitamins, minerals, water nourishes the body and makes man healthy and good-looking. These constitutions or nutrients have 3 three major functions to perform in the body.
- Carbohydrates, fats, and oils supply energy for activity and warmth
- Protein provides for the growth and repair of worn-out body tissue.
- Vitamins and minerals help to regulate many complex processes in the body.
Food being an organic substance grows bacteria very easily and so contamination is very easy (Ebede, 2008). Food hygiene is the conditions and measures necessary to ensure the safety of food from production to consumption.
Food can become contaminated at any point during slaughtering or harvesting, processing, storage, distribution, transportation, and preparation. (World Health Organization W.H.O 2014.)
Food hygiene may be defined as all conditions and measures necessary during the production storage, distribution, and preparation of food to ensure that it is safe, sound, and wholesome, and fit for human consumption.
Food hygiene deals with the prevention of contamination of foodstuff at all stages of its production example from the time the food is produced to the time when it is served for consumption,
it involves proper handling of foodstuff and drinks, all the utensils and equipment used in the food preparation, service and consumption, as well as the care and treatment of foods known to be contaminated with poisons or pathogenic micro-organisms which have originated from the food materials.
At several points along the chain that is from production to home of the consumers, all those who handle food are of vital importance in food hygiene and safety.
A food handler is defined as one who touches the food or the implements of machines with which the food comes in contact or the material in which the food is packed (Obionu, 2009). This definition implies that a large population of people who represent a potential risk to food can be identified clearly from any screening program.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Globally food poisoning is one of the major causes of death. Food poising occurs due to lack of food hygiene and contamination of food. Unhygienic food preparation. predisposes people to various illnesses such as gastroenteritis, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
In developing countries of which Nigeria is one, the incidence of foodborne diseases poses a serious threat to the lives of individuals, families and the community as a whole irrespective of the number of cases involved the problem has been on the increase in Nigeria and Imo-State in particular,
evidence by a high percentage of hospital admissions as well as emergency cases treated as a result of poor practices of hygiene by persons that handle food for public consumption in Imo-State.
This motivated the researcher to wish to ascertain the knowledge and practice of food hygiene among food vendors in the Emekuku Owerri market Imo-State.
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