Exposure of Food Safety Knowledge and Inadequate Practices among Food Vendors at Rawalpindi; the Fourth Largest City of Pakistan

Street food vending trade has earned a significant place all over the world. Rawalpindi city has huge food industry with large market places dedicated only for food items, often coined with food streets which require investigation of food safety knowledge and handling practices among vendors. For this purpose 223 vendors from six clusters of Rawalpindi were selected. 37% of the vendors were from the age bracket of 26-35 years Mojority of them showed the unprofessional attitude towards food preparation and maintenance – about 61% did not cover their food at all and the remaining had the insufficient covering arrangements. Thereby, more than 80% of the stalls were exposed to flies (P=0.000) regardless of the type of cart (P=0.000). 75% vendors used the tap water for their food preparation, amongst which majority (60%) was of those vending either on mobile carts or stalls near to footpath (P = 0.000). Almost 98% handled the food with bare hands. However, 80% vendors agreed that food could be contaminated with the microbes, insects, dust particles, food coloring, and spices used in the preparation of food. Malpractices during the preparation of food and unhygienic conditions may cause foodborne outbreaks.