Assessment of the Hygiene Level of Street Food in the City of Beni in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Introduction: Street food is a cheap option for people in eastern DRC, but the unhygienic practices of street vendors and their customers create an environment that causes disease and other health problems, as well the introduction of food wastes into the environment is worrisome. The study objective is to assess the level of hygiene of the foodstuffs sold on Nyamwisi Boulevard in Beni City.

Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. It focused on food vendors and consumers in Nyamwisi Boulevard in 2021. The study population was infinite with a non-random sample whose number was fixed by the PEDUIZZI formula (n=K*10); K being the number of variables or 100 people.

Results: The study showed that 64% of the sellers are women while 58% of the consumers are men, the motivation for them being the creation of employment for 49% of the sellers, the home being far away for 40% of the consumers. The level of hygiene of the food sold on Nyamwisi Boulevard remains a concern with regard to elements such as 59% use well water, which could be the basis of food-borne diseases, 45% of the respondents are clean, only 8% used protective clothing, 12% wash their hands regularly before serving customers, 26% have dustbins, presence of rubbish at 38%; 36% protect against breath and flies, 55% of utensils are clean, 49% have workstations.

Conclusion: Generally speaking, the hygiene rules for food sold on the public highway on Nyamwisi Boulevard are not in place. Certain practices are said to be at the root of the lack of hygiene of food intended for consumption.