IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ssefpa/v17y2025i3d10.1007_s12571-025-01531-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When washing is not enough: a cross-disciplinary analysis of hygiene and handling practices among vegetable traders in Nigeria

Author

Listed:
  • Itohan Ebunoluwa Abatan

    (Federal University of Agriculture)

  • Lenis Saweda O. Liverpool-Tasie

    (Michigan State University)

  • Adewale Olusegun Obadina

    (Federal University of Agriculture
    University of Johannesburg)

Abstract

Though improper food trader hygiene and handling practices can cause food contamination, few studies have examined both the drivers of their adoption and their impact on the safety of food. Thus, this study examined the hygiene and handling practices of adult vegetable traders in southwest Nigeria by analyzing microbial contamination in vegetable samples and survey data from 166 traders collected over multiple seasons. Our findings show that just half of the traders routinely changed the washing water (every four hours), putting consumers at risk of severe E. coli infection. Almost no traders have received formal training on food safety. High toilet-use fees and a limited number of toilets are also significantly associated with practice gaps among traders. The study findings reveal the need for increased awareness about hygiene and food safety among food traders, e.g. through training programs. In addition, improving market infrastructure such as more toilets and hand washing stations and reducing the associated costs of using these services could facilitate better adoption and adherence to good hygiene practices which has a direct impact on food safety. Addressing food safety requires a multifaceted approach that includes education, infrastructure improvement, and policy interventions aimed at promoting and sustaining good food handling practices among food traders in Nigeria and similar contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Itohan Ebunoluwa Abatan & Lenis Saweda O. Liverpool-Tasie & Adewale Olusegun Obadina, 2025. "When washing is not enough: a cross-disciplinary analysis of hygiene and handling practices among vegetable traders in Nigeria," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 17(3), pages 657-669, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:17:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s12571-025-01531-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s12571-025-01531-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12571-025-01531-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12571-025-01531-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Md. Latiful Haque & Peter Oosterveer & Raffaele Vignola, 2024. "Food safety concerns and purchase choices among poor households in the urbanising global south: the case of Dhaka, Bangladesh," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 16(4), pages 933-950, August.
    2. Thomas Reardon & Lenis Saweda O. Liverpool-Tasie & Bart Minten, 2021. "Quiet Revolution by SMEs in the midstream of value chains in developing regions: wholesale markets, wholesalers, logistics, and processing," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(6), pages 1577-1594, December.
    3. Delia Grace, 2023. "Burden of foodborne disease in low-income and middle-income countries and opportunities for scaling food safety interventions," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(6), pages 1475-1488, December.
    4. Delia Grace, 2015. "Food Safety in Low and Middle Income Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, August.
    5. Metadel Adane & Brhanu Teka & Yirga Gismu & Goitom Halefom & Muluneh Ademe, 2018. "Food hygiene and safety measures among food handlers in street food shops and food establishments of Dessie town, Ethiopia: A community-based cross-sectional study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-13, May.
    6. Windra Prayoga & Masateru Nishiyama & Susan Praise & Dung Viet Pham & Hieu Van Duong & Lieu Khac Pham & Loc Thi Thanh Dang & Toru Watanabe, 2021. "Tracking Fecal Bacterial Dispersion from Municipal Wastewater to Peri-Urban Farms during Monsoon Rains in Hue City, Vietnam," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-18, September.
    7. Ireen Raaijmakers & Harriette Snoek & Busie Maziya-Dixon & Thom Achterbosch, 2018. "Drivers of Vegetable Consumption in Urban Nigeria: Food Choice Motives, Knowledge, and Self-Efficacy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-14, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lígia Isoni Auad & Verônica Cortez Ginani & Eliana Dos Santos Leandro & Aline Costa Santos Nunes & Luiz Roberto Pires Domingues Junior & Renata Puppin Zandonadi, 2018. "Who Is Serving Us? Food Safety Rules Compliance Among Brazilian Food Truck Vendors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Fanta D. Gutema & Getahun E. Agga & Reta D. Abdi & Alemnesh Jufare & Luc Duchateau & Lieven De Zutter & Sarah Gabriël, 2021. "Assessment of Hygienic Practices in Beef Cattle Slaughterhouses and Retail Shops in Bishoftu, Ethiopia: Implications for Public Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-13, March.
    3. Chacha, Peter Wankuru & Kirui, Benard Kipyegon & Wiedemann, Verena, 2024. "Supply Chains in Times of Crisis: Evidence from Kenya’s Production Network," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    4. Stella Nordhagen & Smret Hagos & Genet Gebremedhin & James Lee, 2025. "Vendor capacity and incentives to supply safer food: a perspective from urban Ethiopia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 17(2), pages 331-344, April.
    5. Bianca Carducci & Yaqub Wasan & Agha Shakeel & Amjad Hussain & Jo-Anna B. Baxter & Arjumand Rizvi & Sajid B. Soofi & Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, 2022. "Characterizing Retail Food Environments in Peri-Urban Pakistan during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-13, July.
    6. Mac Clay, Pablo & Feeney, Roberto & Sellare, Jorge, 2024. "Technology-driven transformations in agri-food global value chains: The role of incumbent firms from a corporate venture capital perspective," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    7. Marivoet, Wim & Ulimwengu, John M., 2024. "Spatial typology for food system analysis: Taking stock and setting a research agenda," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    8. Songyi Wang & Fengming Tao & Yuhe Shi, 2018. "Optimization of Location–Routing Problem for Cold Chain Logistics Considering Carbon Footprint," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, January.
    9. Ayyanar Barathinivas & Subramanian Ramya & Kooturan Neethirajan & Ramaraj Jayakumararaj & Chinnathambi Pothiraj & Paulraj Balaji & Caterina Faggio, 2022. "Ecotoxicological Effects of Pesticides on Hematological Parameters and Oxidative Enzymes in Freshwater Catfish, Mystus keletius," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-21, August.
    10. Kehinde Paul Adeosun & Kabir Kayode Salman & Nnaemeka Andegbe Chukwuone & Chukwuma Otum Ume & Chiamaka Adaobi Chukwuone & Cynthia .Njideka Ezema, 2022. "Factors Influencing Fruits And Vegetables Consumption among Pregnant Women: Evidence from Enugu State, Nigeria," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 24(1), pages 1-23.
    11. Natália Cristina de Oliveira & Pedro Balikian Júnior & Arnaldo Tenório da Cunha Júnior & Edson de Souza Bento & Josealdo Tonholo & Thiago Aquino & Filipe Antonio de Barros Sousa & Gustavo Gomes de Ara, 2023. "Environmental Planning and Non-Communicable Diseases: A Systematic Review on the Role of the Metabolomic Profile," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(14), pages 1-15, July.
    12. Siet J. Sijtsema & Hans Dagevos & Ghalia Nassar & Mariët van Haaster de Winter & Harriëtte M. Snoek, 2021. "Capabilities and Opportunities of Flexitarians to Become Food Innovators for a Healthy Planet: Two Explorative Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-17, October.
    13. Alice Chapple & Elise Reynolds & Andrew Mude & Warda Riaz & Reina Engle‐Stone, 2024. "Is investing in food small and medium enterprises a viable path to improved nutrition in Sub‐Saharan Africa? A multidisciplinary perspective," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(2), pages 475-498, June.
    14. Ayako Ebata & Mauricio Espinoza & Giel Ton, 2025. "Food safety certification in urban food markets: the willingness to pay for safer meat in Peru," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 17(2), pages 461-476, April.
    15. Zhuang Zhang & You-hua Chen & Lin-hai Wu, 2021. "Effects of Governmental Intervention on Foodborne Disease Events: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-14, December.
    16. Harriette M Snoek & Ireen Raaijmakers & Oluranti M Lawal & Machiel J Reinders, 2022. "An explorative study with convenience vegetables in urban Nigeria—The Veg-on-Wheels intervention," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(9), pages 1-21, September.
    17. Ambler, Kate & de Brauw, Alan & Herskowitz, Sylvan & Pulido, Cristhian, 2023. "Viewpoint: Finance needs of the agricultural midstream," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    18. Prabhu Pingali & Mathew Abraham, 2022. "Food systems transformation in Asia – A brief economic history," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(6), pages 895-910, November.
    19. Leogrande, Angelo, 2025. "The Evolution of Italy's Wholesale and Retail Trade Sector: Economic Trends and Policy Implications (2014-2023)," MPRA Paper 123463, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Timu, Anne G. & Hazell, Peter & Savastano, Sara, 2024. "An approach for assessing whether agricultural projects help smallholders transition to better livelihood strategies: A malawian case study," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:17:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s12571-025-01531-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.