Public Health challenges associated with street-vended foods and medicines in a developing country: A mini-review

Abstract

The steady growth of urban population has necessitated the proliferation of wayside food and medicines vendors. These vendors include a large population of individuals with very little or no knowledge and training on basic food safety and drug matters. They are neither properly trained nor fully aware of the serious health dangers posed by microbial contamination of their wares. Therefore, from place of preparation to roadsides where the foods are sold, the chances of contamination by pathogens are significantly high. Some of these street vended foods and medicines are ready-to-eat salads, vegetables, fruits, cooked foods, herbal remedies and concoctions, which can be consumed directly from the point of purchase. Poor hygiene at the point of preparation is sufficient to cause food borne outbreak of epidemiological significance while the medicines innumerable health consequences and consequent public health challenge. Poor storage system and frequent unhygienic exposure of prepared vegetable salads and medicines add to their microbial load. Some of the communities in developing countries do not have good sources of portable water for the preparation of these vital life products. It is not unlikely that some of these products are prepared with faecally contaminated water taken from local ponds and open streams. Daily interactions with Escherichia coli, Shigella spp and Salmonella spp which cause diarrhoea, dysentery and other serious gastrointestinal disturbances have been adequately documented. The target of this review is to highlight major public health concerns associated with foods and medicines vended in Nigeria, a developing country.

Food safety knowledge and practices of street food vendors in selected locations within Kiambu County, Kenya

“…Most RTE foods (38.6%) were also stored at ambient temperatures. Temperature abuse by exposing food to ambient conditions encourages a wide range of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms to proliferate causing infections and intoxications when the food is consumed (Obaji et al, 2018;Ouma et al, 2019;Shiningeni et al, 2019). Similar results were reported by Muhonja and Kimathi (2014) in Nakuru county, Kenya while assessing the hygiene and food handling practices among SFVs where cooked foods were stored at ambient temperatures exposed to the environment during sale which posed significant safety concerns.…”

“…About 25.5% of the vendors indicated that they would consume the leftovers while 22.3% stored the foodstuffs without any form of preservation and sold them the following day. Leftover food can easily be contaminated by especially pathogenic microorganisms when stored under ambient temperatures posing safety concerns to the consumers (Obaji et al, 2018). This is worrying considering the poor handling and storage practices that the foods are exposed to during the day.…”

“…This underlines the importance of public health officers' oversight on food vending businesses. Continuous surveillance as suggested by Obaji et al (2018) is therefore required as a strategy towards improved street food safety.…”

Effects of packaging material on microbial load and safety of ready–to-eat Voandzeia subterranean cake (Okpa)

“…It was clearly observed that most samples packaged with nylon were free of fungal contaminants compared with samples packaged with banana leaves. Earlier studies had reported the presence of microbial contaminants in food products and medicines [17][18][19][20].…”

Antimicrobial activity of Tetrapleura tetraptera (Uyayak) extracts, ADMET profiling and molecular docking of its bioactive compounds against dihydropteroate synthase of Escherichia coli

“…capitata), carrot (Daucus carota), berries, mangos, star apples, onion (Allium cepa), tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and green-pepper (Capsicum annuum). Fruits and vegetables are also prone to microbial contamination as they are constantly in contact with the environment (soil, animals droppings used as manure, water and dust, insect bites, etc) and during harvest and post-harvest handlings [6] [7]. Practices such as the use of untreated wastewater for irrigation and unhygienic post-harvest handling of the fruits and vegetables contribute to the contamination process.…”