Do street food vendors sell a sufficient variety of foods for a healthful diet? The case of Nairobi
Date
2002Author
Mwangi, Alice Mboganie
den Hartog, Adel P
Mwadime, Robert KN
Van Staveren, Wija A
Foeken, Dick WJ
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This study examined whether street food vendors sell a sufficient variety of foods for a healthful diet. It was hypothesized that vendors sold only low-cost food groups to enable the buyer to afford the food while the vendor also made a profit. A structured questionnaire was administered to 580 vendors in three selected locations. Data included product names, ingredients, methods of preparation, and the sex of the vendor. A little more than half of the vendors (53%) sold food of only one group; 44% sold cereals. Overall, 36% of vendors, mostly men, sold only carbohydrate products. The percentage of vendors selling foods of more than one group was higher in the working area (53%) than in the slum area (43%, p < .05), and it was higher in both of these areas taken together than in the lower-middle income area (21%, p < .001). Micronutrient and mixed-nutrient products were associated with female vendors. Although a slight majority of all street vendors sell foods of only one group, women vendors are capable of supplying a sufficient variety of food groups that consumers can afford. It appears that consumer purchasing power dictates the food groups provided by vendors, especially cereal-based foods. A policy on micro-nutrient fortification of cereal flours and fats used in popular street food preparation needs to be considered. This could be coupled with consumer and vendor education programs focusing on the importance of healthful diets.
URI
http://fnb.sagepub.com/content/23/1/48.shorthttp://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/34709
Citation
Mwangi, Alice Mboganie; den Hartog, Adel P.; Mwadime, Robert K.N.; Van Staveren, Wija A.; Foeken,Dick WJ, Do street food vendors sell a sufficient variety of foods for a healthful diet? The case of Nairobi, Food & Nutrition Bulletin, Volume 23, Number 1, March 2002 , pp. 48-56(9)Publisher
Nevin Scrimshaw International Nutrition Foundation Faculty of Agriculture