Food safety and hygiene practices among street food vendors in Delhi, India

A study was done to assess food safety and hygiene practices amongst street food vendors in Delhi, India. Practices and hygiene status of 200 street food vendors was studied by a questionnaire based findings and observations at the vending site. Data was entered and analyzed with the help of MS- excel. Result: It was found that majority of the respondents (33 %) were in the age group of 25 to 34 years of age and 24% were illiterate. Around 36% of the vendors were permanent residents of Delhi and from rest of the respondents, 55% were from Uttar Pradesh only. None of the respondents were registered or licensed. Seventy two percent were disposing garbage in open lid bins and 16% were throwing it on the road, only 3% of the vendors were using hand gloves and from rest only 2% were washing hands before and after handling raw or cooked food. Majority of respondents (72 %) had short clean nails and few (4 %) had open wounds present. Presence of flies/mosquitoes was observed in 45% of the vending sites. 19 % were washing utensils in open. Conclusion: Food vended is of different flavor, cheap and tasty, which becomes popular among people easily. This study highlighted few points which need to be addressed for better hygiene status and food practices amongst street food vendors. There is a need of generating awareness amongst street vendors and WHO’s five “keys to safety” should be incorporated.