International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) Volume 4 Issue 6, September-October 2020 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD33692 | Volume – 4 | Issue – 6 | September-October 2020 Page 1630 Food Safety Practices among Street Food Vendors in Diplo, Sindh, Pakistan Parkash Meghwar 1 , Dileep Kumar 1 , Preeti Dhanker 2 , Mukesh Kumar 3 1 Institute of Food Sciences and Technology, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Pakistan-70060 2 Ph.D Scholar, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana India 3 Department of Horticulture, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, Pakistan-70060 ABSTRACT Diplo town lack food industry, market places coined with food streets. Vendors role to ascertain public health by conserving safety of food chain. Food can be contaminated like improper processing operations, lack of personal hygiene, dirt, dust, smokes, etc. among vendors. Aim: The present study designed to know the level of alertness of food vendors to food safety and hygiene practices by observing and record the corona virus disruption of their business. Materials and methods: For that, a random selection of 20 vendors from Diplo was done. A detailed questionnaire was used in order to obtain the data. Results: It was found that majority approximately 80% of the vendors were of the age group 20-30 years and were unmarried, out of these about 45% (primary education) showing a dishonorable arrogance to food preparation and selling. Almost 95% not covered food while rest 5% were lacking sufficient covering arrangements and apparels. Hence, >85% of food shops were unprotected to insects (i.e. flies, mosquitoes,) regardless of the type of cart. The 99% vendors used water from bore wells and hand pumps for food preparation. However, about 80% of these vendors showed strong agreement that the food may be fouled with microbes, insects, dust particles, food coloring, as well as different spices used while preparations. Also, various malpractices and unhygienic conditions during the food preparation may lead to food borne outbreaks. Persistence of different food borne ailments result in morbidity and sudden mortality. Conclusions: It is concluded that mostly vendors are unaware about the basic hygiene methods & personal hygiene of their own. KEYWORDS: COVID-19, contamination, food safety, hygiene practices, street vendors How to cite this paper: Parkash Meghwar | Dileep Kumar | Preeti Dhanker | Mukesh Kumar "Food Safety Practices among Street Food Vendors in Diplo, Sindh, Pakistan" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456- 6470, Volume-4 | Issue-6, October 2020, pp.1630-1634, URL: www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd33692.pdf Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development Journal. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) Corresponding Author Parkash Meghwar Email: kparkash707@gmail.com INTRODUCTION With the advancement in life state of humans, street food vending trade has gained immense significance globally. As a result of furious growth in urban community the inclination of street food (SF) vending is also mushrooming at the globally level different technological advancement and alarmingly increasing hasty lifestyle is another big reason for these. Population now-a-days is very much inclined towards the consumption of ready to eat (RTE) foods in its place of fresh food home-based cooking. People find it easy as well as loving to order food from outsides, without even realizing the associated safety apprehensions. While extension of these activities being considered a gainful initiative because of minor wealth expenditure and tax-free incomes [8]. This may provide, benefits to country’s economy [12], deliver little price & frequently healthful diets besides, similarly be accountable for service as well as suitable to people from low socio-economic sets [13]. These are likely causing why street selling wages a very noteworthy share to limited residents, business societies usually occupied as an inexpensive to diverse units of the populace [13]. It is also projected that on a normal, approximately 2.5 billion people universally eat SFs daily. Separately, in Latin America, up to 30% of urban family procurements are made of SF material only [13]. In Southern Asian nations also, SFs are one of the vital servings of their desirability for diet [10]. But, the influence of this sudden and energetic change is so great, that many global establishments have been prudently planned a generally adequate terminology and elevated dissimilar meanings connected to the food vending corporate. For example, well-known organizations, WHO and FAO termed SFs as RTE food and beverages ready and sold by vendors particularly on the roads and other public spaces for prompt eating [17]. One more term “food handler (FH)” is the one who holders food regardless of whether self- organized or aided it. SF protection is immensely reliant on the good management of raw food till cooking and consumption. There are different truths that most of the SF vendors own, deprived resident set-up in overall, absence of clean/disinfected services, dearth of appropriate guidance in respects of food hygiene, IJTSRD33692