Department

Consumer and Food Sciences

Degree

Master in Consumer Science

Food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Tshwane street vendors when managing fresh produce

This study was focused on investigating food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices of Tshwane street vendors when managing fresh produce. Street vendors in developing countries including South Africa continue to ensure guaranteed food supply to all members of the community (especially those from low-income groups) at very affordable rates as compared to formal food retailers. It has been noted in the literature that vendors’ deficit in terms of knowledge, attitudes and practices is not conducive to ensuring the delivery of safe food to consumers worldwide. Unfortunately, information regarding street food safety in South Africa tends to be limited hence the need for this study. To collect data, the researcher used a semi-structured questionnaire from respondents within the Tshwane metropolitan. The data analysis included both descriptive and inferential statistics using IBM SPSS (V.25). An Analysis of Variance as part of inferential statistics was run to identify any possibly significant differences between demographic groups. To identify possible relationships between knowledge, attitudes and practices, a Pearson’s Correlation Test was used. A strong relationship was found between the street vendors’ food safety knowledge and practices, which potentially implies that training programmes/campaigns could lower consumers’ vulnerability and exposure to foodborne illnesses.

Email

[email protected]

Supervisors

• Primary Supervisor: Dr JMM Marx-Pienaar
• Co- Supervisor: Prof GE du Rand 

Conferences

• Zwane, ST., Marx-Pienaar, JMM., du Rand, GE. (2018) Assessing the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of fresh produce street vendors: scale development and methodology. The 2nd International Conference for Food Safety and Security: Next Generation Food Safety Technologies. St George Hotel, Pretoria, South Africa 15-17 October 2018.
• Zwane, ST., Marx-Pienaar, JMM., du Rand, GE. (2019) Food safety knowledge of street vendors in Tshwane when managing fresh produce. The South African Association for Food Science & Technology (SAAFoST): Food Science and Technology for the 21st Century technologies. Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa. 1 - 4 September 2019.
• Delegate at the Food Next Africa: Food disruption from farm to fork. Gallagher Convention Centre, Richard Drive, Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa 24 – 25 June 2019.