Water Safety and Hygienic Practices of Formal and Informal Food Outlets in Malawi
Keywords:
Water contamination, water quality, water sanitation and Hygiene, Food outlets
Abstract
Access to potable water is one of the most important aspects of ensuring consumer safety in food production. Interventions to improve the quality of drinking water and ensuring hygienic practices provide significant benefits to health. However, the monitoring of water quality and maintaining good hygiene remains a challenge in public food outlets where contamination of water may cause the outbreak of disease. The study aimed at assessing the water safety and hygienic practices of formal and informal food outlets in Malawi Community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted in Nkhotakota district, Malawi. A stratified random sampling technique was adopted to select 384 participating food outlets to assess water safety and hygiene practices. Data were collected through interviews and observational checklists. The study revealed that 31% (n = 384) of the food outlets had poor hygienic practices and half of the food handlers in the food outlets (50%, n = 376) had no knowledge of water contaminations. Furthermore, it was found that 96.6% of the food outlets (n = 384) use untreated water. Based on the findings, it was concluded that water being used was not safe for drinking due to poor hygiene and lack of knowledge by food handlers. Due to poor hygiene and lack of knowledge by food handlers, the study recommends widening the scope of policies in food outlets to provide special periodic orientation sessions to food handlers on sanitation and hygiene followed by evaluation in their respective food outlets. Food outlet owners should take responsibility for ensuring that hygienic conditions are followed at their business premises.
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References
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2. Al-kandari, D., Al-abdeen, J., & Sidhu, J. (2019). Food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices of food handlers in restaurants in Kuwait. Food Control, 103(September), 193–110.
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2019.03.040
3. Balaka, Y., & Chagoma, H. J. (2022). Spatial and Temporal Variations in Water Quality Along the Bua River, Malawi. Journal of Limnology and Freshwater Fisheries Research, August 2022. https://doi.org/10.17216/limnofish.1072208
4. Bhagwat, V. R. (2019). Safety of water used in food production. In Food Safety and Human Health. Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816333-7.00009-6
5. Cabral, J. P. S. (2010). Water microbiology. Bacterial pathogens and water. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 7(10), 3657–3703.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph7103657
6. Cassivi, A., Tilley, E., Waygood, E. O. D., & Dorea, C. (2021). Household practices in accessing drinking water and post collection contamination: A seasonal cohort study in Malawi. Water Research, 189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2020.116607
7. Chidya, R. C. G., Singano, L., Chitedze, I., & Mourad, K. A. (2019). Standards compliance and health implications of bottled water in Malawi. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(6). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16060951
8. Dreibelbis, R., Winch, P., Leontsini, E., Hulland, K. R., Ram, P. K., Unicomb, L., & Luby, S. P. (2013). The Integrated Behavioural Model for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: a systematic review of behavioural models and a framework for designing and evaluating behaviour change interventions in infrastructure-restricted settings. BMC Public Health, 13(1015), 1–13.
9. Filimonau, V., Matute, J., Kubal-Czerwińska, M., Krzesiwo, K., & Mika, M. (2020). The determinants of consumer engagement in restaurant food waste mitigation in Poland: An exploratory study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 247.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119105
10. Isoni Auad, L., Cortez Ginani, V., Stedefeldt, E., Yoshio Nakano, E., Costa Santos Nunes, A., & Puppin Zandonadi, R. (2019). Food Safety Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Brazilian Food Truck Food Handlers. In Nutrients (Vol. 11, Issue 8). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11081784
11. Kamboj, S., Gupta, N., Bandral, J. D., Gandotra, G., & Anjum, N. (2020). Food safety and hygiene: A review. International Journal of Chemical Studies, 8(2), 358–368.
https://doi.org/10.22271/chemi.2020.v8.i2f.8794
12. Kwol, V. S., Eluwole, K. K., Avci, T., & Lasisi, T. T. (2020). Another look into the Knowledge Attitude Practice (KAP) model for food control: An investigation of the mediating role of food handlers’ attitudes. Food Control, 110, 107025.
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2019.107025
13. Machado-Moreira, B., Richards, K., Brennan, F., Abram, F., & Burgess, C. M. (2019). Microbial Contamination of Fresh Produce: What, Where, and How? Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 18(6), 1727–1750. https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4337.12487
14. Majiji, B. A., Babayeemehr, A., Mehrabani, S., & Aghajanpour, F. (2023). Role of the World Health Organization in Management of Gastrointestinal Diseases Caused by Contaminated Water in Children in the Middle East: A Review Article. Journal of Pediatrics Review, 1–21.
15. Makwinja, R., Kosamu, I. B. M., & Kaonga, C. C. (2019). Determinants and values of willingness to pay for water quality improvement: Insights from Chia lagoon, Malawi. Sustainability (Switzerland), 11(17). https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174690
16. Malek, A., Rao, G. R., & Thomas, T. (2021). Waste-to-wealth approach in water economy: The case of beneficiation of mercury-contaminated water in hydrogen production. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 46(52), 26677–26692.
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.05.133
17. Manini, E., Baldrighi, E., Ricci, F., Grilli, F., Giovannelli, D., Intoccia, M., Casabianca, S., Capellacci, S., Marinchel, N., Penna, P., Moro, F., Campanelli, A., Cordone, A., Correggia,
18. M., Bastoni, D., Bolognini, L., Marini, M., & Penna, A. (2022). Assessment of SpatioTemporal Variability of Faecal Pollution along Coastal Waters during and after Rainfall Events. Water (Switzerland), 14(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/w14030502
19. MBS. (2005). Drinking water - Specification. Drinking Water Specifications, first revi(MS 214:2005).
20. MBS. (2017). Catalogue of Malawi standards. Malawi Bureau of Standards. www.mbsmw.org
21. Mena-Rivera, L., & Quirós-Vega, J. (2018). Assessment of drinking water suitability in low income rural areas: a case study in Sixaola, Costa Rica. Journal of Water and Health, 16(3), 403–413. https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2018.203
22. Mkwate, R. C., Chidya, R. C. G., & Wanda, E. M. M. (2017). Assessment of drinking water quality and rural household water treatment in Balaka District, Malawi. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 100, 353–362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2016.10.006
23. Naumann, E., Jackson, B. J., & Donald, W. (1999). One more time: how do you satisfy customers? 42(3), 71+.
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A55083933/AONE?u=anon~bf1cf6c0&sid=googleScholar&x id=c5019a38
24. Ncube, F., Kanda, A., Chijokwe, M., Mabaya, G., & Nyamugure, T. (2020). Food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices of restaurant food handlers in a lower-middle-income country. Food Science and Nutrition, 8(3), 1677–1687. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.1454
25. Nizame, F. A., Alam, M. U., Masud, A. A., Shoab, A. K., Opel, A., Islam, K., Luby, S. P., & Unicomb, L. (2019). Hygiene in restaurants and among street food vendors in Bangladesh. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 101(3), 566–575. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.18-0896
26. Overgaard, H. J., Dada, N., Lenhart, A., Stenström, T. A. B., & Alexander, N. (2021). Integrated disease management: Arboviral infections and waterborne diarrhoea. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 99(8), 583–592. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.20.269985
27. Some, S., Mondal, R., Mitra, D., Jain, D., Verma, D., & Das, S. (2021). Microbial pollution of water with special reference to coliform bacteria and their nexus with environment. Energy Nexus, 1(July), 100008. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nexus.2021.100008
28. Stevenson, M., & Bravo, C. (2019). Advanced turbidity prediction for operational water supply planning. Decision Support Systems, 119, 72–84. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2019.02.009
29. Walker, P. ., Baumgartner, D. ., Gerba, C. ., & Fitzsimmons, K. (2019). Surface Water Pollution.
30. Environmental and Pollution Science, 3rd editio(2019), 261–292. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-814719-1.00016-1 Wan Nawawi, W. N. F., Ramoo, V., Chong, M. C., & Abdullah, K. L. (2022). A systematic review of the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of food safety among street food handlers. International Food Research Journal, 29(6), 1226–1239.
https://doi.org/10.47836/ifrj.29.6.01
31. WASAMA. (2020). Drinking Water Quality Audit Report. Ministry of Forestry and Natural Resources.
32. WHO/UNICEF. (2020). Global Progress Report on WASH in health care facilities. https://data.unicef.org/resources/global-progress-report-on-wash-in-health-care-facilitiesfundamentals-first
33. WHO/UNICEF. (2021). Progress on household drinking water, Sanitation and hygiene. 20002020, five years into the SDGs. In Joint Water Supply, & Sanitation Monitoring Programme. http://apps.who.int/bookorders.
34. WHO. (2019). Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health: A Primer for Health Professionals. World Health Organisation, 1–40. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/330100/WHOCED-PHE-WSH-19.149-eng.pdf?ua=1
35. WHO. (2022). Guidelines for drinking water quality. Resuscitation, 4(2).
Published
2025-03-13
How to Cite
Phiri, S. K., & Chibwe, R. (2025). Water Safety and Hygienic Practices of Formal and Informal Food Outlets in Malawi. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 39, 266. Retrieved from https://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/view/19224
Section
ESI Preprints
Copyright (c) 2025 Shadreck Kachembwe Phiri, Ronald Chibwe
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
