Assessment of Food Safety Knowledge, Hygiene Practices, and Microbial Contamination Risks Among Street Food Vendors in Urban Areas of Pakistan

Abstract

Street-vended foods provide affordable meals in Pakistan; however, inadequate hygiene, poor sanitation, and microbial contamination present significant public health challenges. To evaluate knowledge about food safety, hygienic practices, prevalence of microbial contamination and antimicrobial resistance amongst urban street food vendors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 300 street food vendors from 5 major cities in Pakistan. Knowledge about food safety and hygienic practices was measured through structured questionnaires. Microbiological tests were performed on 300 food samples, 150 environmental swabs and antimicrobial susceptibility performed on 120 bacterial isolates. Results: The average score achieved by participants for food safety knowledge was 14.2 ± 5.1. There was a high percentage of individuals with poor knowledge (42.0%). 51.0% of vendors did not follow adequate hygienic practices. Only 36.0% washed their hands appropriately and 65.7% did not have adequate refrigeration. Microbial contamination was present in 61.7% of food samples. This included Staphylococcus aureus (32.0%), Escherichia coli (26.0%), Bacillus cereus (23.0%) and Salmonella spp. (11.0%). Meat products (76.7%) and fresh salads (75.0%) exhibited the highest contamination frequencies. Pollution of the environment was observed in 59.3% of swabs and multidrug resistance was found in 35.0% of bacterial isolates. These findings emphasize the need for better food safety education, sanitation infrastructure, hygiene monitoring and microbiological surveillance to reduce the risks of foodborne illness.