Microbial Risk Assessment of Street Vended Poultry Products in the Informal Settlements of Nairobi County

Abstract

With the increasing urbanization, street vended foods (SVF) have become popular in the developing countries especially in the areas of low-income status such as the informal settlements. In as much as SVF contributes significant portion of daily diet of the urban population, it remains largely unregulated. Thereby, the SVFs poses great food safety risks to consumers. This study focused on the Street vended poultry products. Poultry products have a myriad of microbial safety challenges and the need for their safety assessment cannot be overlooked. The street-vended poultry (SVP) have much affordability thus the huge consumption levels in the informal settlement. The current study sought to establish the hygiene and food safety knowledge and practices of the vendors and consumers of the SVP. Additionally, the study also evaluated the determinants of microbial safety and the risk rank of these products. A cross-sectional survey was done in the Korogocho and Kariobangi North slums among the consumers and vendors of the SVP to assess their food safety knowledge and practices. Swab samples of the cooking equipment, utensils, and personnel, raw and cooked portions of poultry were collected for microbial quality evaluation. The most prevalent microorganism was assessed for its qualitative risk rank using the Risk Ranger software. The results showed that both the vendors and consumers had acceptable food safety knowledge scores averaging at 79.79 ± 13.89 and 60.51 ± 12.01 %, respectively. The male vendors (75.56 ± 10.18%) had significantly higher knowledge score than their females counterparts (56.00 ± 8.43 %) at p<0.05. Religious affiliation, employment status and residence of the consumers significantly (p<0.05) predicted their knowledge scores with an effect of 16.2% in the variation. The vendors (60.51 ± 12.01 %) had poor food safety scores as compared to the consumers (68.0 ± 16%). The education status and the residence of the XVII consumers significantly (p<0.05) affected their food safety practices. Less than half (<50 %) of the consumers purchased packaged products, did not handle displayed product with bare hands and purchased from vendor who covered the displayed products. The residence of the consumer was significantly (p<0.05) associated with whether they checked the hygiene status of the vending place. Covering of the displayed products and cooking utensils were the least practiced hygiene measures by the vendors at 23.1 % and 38.5 %, respectively. The level of contamination of the street vended poultry with E. coli ranged from 6.60 ± 1.25a ± 2.67 ± 1.98b log10 CFUg-1, Salmonella spp 6.42 ± 1.64a to 2.22 ± 1.88b log10 CFUg-1, Staphylococcus aureus 6.92 ± 1.32a to 2.86 ± 1.61c log10 CFUg-1 and Campylobacter jejuni 8.95 ± 0.94a to 4.66 ± 2.67d log10 CFUg-1 in raw and cooked poultry samples, respectively. The predictors of E.coli contamination were presence of pests and flies, unclean vending place, vending environment littered with waste, washing of hands by the vendor and lack of appropriate clothing among the vendors at R2 of 0.33. The vendor practices and environmental hygiene of the vending place would not significantly (p>0.05) predict contamination with campylobacter and staphylococcus contamination. The probability of contamination of raw street-vended poultry was found to be 48.96 %. The mean weekly intake of the poultry was reported 140.0 g per person. The probability of the campylobacter infection in an individual consumer was found as 7.12 x 10-3 with the predicted illnesses among the population found as 1.11 x 106 cases. The qualitative risk estimate from the study was reported as 67, above the limit of 48 for medium risk. The study concluded that, the most prevalent microorganism, C. jejuni, posed high food safety risks resultant from consumption of street-vended poultry. Food safety knowledge, attitude and practices of the vendors and consumers of street-vended poultry aggravated this situation.

The creation of awareness and improvement of food hygiene and preparation practices are essential in reversing the current situation.