CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
In many developing countries including Nigeria street food vendors have formed an integral part of the food supply chain, particularly following the advent of urbanization [Akintoro O. 2012]. The street food industry has contributed immensely to human and economic development as studies conducted in some of the African countries like Nigeria, Morocco, and Kenya have shown that major street food vendors usually earn above the countries’ minimum wage [Aderoju 2008]. The socioeconomic role of the street food sector in terms of its potential for employment creation, yielding income particularly for women, and provision of food at affordable cost to lower income groups in the cities has been documented. In Nigeria, urban city dwellers spend as much as half of their food expenditure on street foods [Tavonga 2014]
SARS-Cov-2 virus is still affecting the life style and threatening the life of many people nationally and internationally. World Health Organization (WHO) put many regulations for all the countries to keep social distancing between individuals and working from distance to reduce the transmission of SARS-Cov-2 virus.
In the food factories the ability to work from home is impossible, and the workers need to work in places and together, so keeping food workers safe along the food chain is very big challenge (Wei, W.et al. 2020). All researches approved that that SARS_CoV-2 affects directly the respiratory system and is transmitted easily through droplets when infected persons are coughing or sneezing (Tong, Z. et al. 2020). The contamination of the surfaces and objects with heavy droplets will occur, So these inanimate objects can be good vehicles to transfer the virus (Tong, Z. et al. 2020). It was found that the survival time for SARS_CoV-2 virus on plastic and stainless steel is up to 72 hours, on copper up to four hours and on cardboard up to 24 hours (Wei, W.et al. 2020). However, most virus on the surface of common materials becomes inactive (noninfectious) after the first 24 hours (WHO, FAO. 2020).
The knowledge of food handlers and vendors in many local food factories and their attitude to hygiene food practices need evaluation in the light of COVID-19 pandemic.Their knowledge of the principles of food hygiene needs refreshing, to eliminate the risk of contamination of food, or food packaging as well as other surfaces during processing. (Sharif, L. et al. 2010). The transmission of SRS-Cov-2 virus among food handlers will be a worldwide issue and preventing spreading of the virus have captured many organizations all over the world. Thus there is a need to examine the impact of Covid-19 on food vendors.