Assessment of Food Vendors’ Sanitation, Hygiene and Practices in Urban District Primary Schools in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Poor food vendor’s sanitation, hygiene and handling practices could be among the factors that can compromise the health of primary schools’ children in Zanzibar. The study aimed to assess environmental sanitation, personal hygiene and food handling practices among food vendors in selected primary schools in the urban district, Unguja. The study was conducted between October 2021 and March 2022 using a cross-sectional design. The data were collected using observation checklist to assess the sanitation conditions of the selling environment, personal hygiene, and food-handling practices of vendors, while structured questionnaires captured demographic information of vendors in schools that were selected using Cluster sampling method. Data analysis was performed using STATA Version 13. One way ANOVA was used to assess demographic variables on age, marital status and level of education while t- test was used to analyze gender. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to identify key factors influencing sanitation, personal hygiene, and food-handling practices. A large majority of vendors were women (96 %), age range of most respondents (81.5%) was between 20-49, 75% were married and 80% of vendors had at least primary education. Statistically significant relationship was observed on vendors' demographic characteristics (p < 0.05). Lack of designated vending area (78.9%), poor working conditions (68.4%), handling of food with bare hands (60%) and poor handwashing habits (94.4%) were among the major challenges facing food vending in school settings in Zanzibar Urban District. The findings underscore the urgent need for regular health inspections, targeted health education for food vendors and their customers, and proper management of vending sites and stronger regulatory frameworks.