Street food handlers' food safety knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practices and consumers' perceptions about street food vending in Maseru, Lesotho

Purpose Food safety knowledge and hygienic practices by food handlers play an important role in the prevention of contamination of food prepared. Design/methodology/approach This descriptive survey was conducted in Maseru around the taxi ranks amongst 48 food handlers and 93 consumers using a semi-structured questionnaire for assessing food handler knowledge, attitudes and practices, open-ended questionnaire for obtaining consumer perceptions and observation checklist. Findings Majority of the food handlers were females (60%) and males constituted only (40%). The mean age was 35.5 +/- 10.3 and 28.2 +/- 9.9 respectively for street vendors and consumers. There was a statistically significant difference in knowledge among the trained and untrained vendors (p = 0040). On average the vendor population that participated in this study was considered to have poor knowledge (scores < 50%) of food safety since they scored 49% +/- 11, while 84% of the respondents were considered to have positive attitudes towards food safety. Only 6% of the consumers reported that they never buy street vended foods mainly due to the hygiene issues. The observation checklist showed that the vendors operated under unhygienic conditions and that there was scarcity of clean water supply and hand washing facilities. Originality/value This study provides knowledge that was previously unknown about food vending in Lesotho. It has significantly added to the body of knowledge on food safety in Lesotho which can be used to modify policies and structure food safety training for people involved in the informal trade.