Assessment of the bacteriological contamination of selected street foods in open and closed environments in the city of Lucknow

In developing countries, the urban population’s association with street food is significant. Consumers favor street food because of its convenience, affordability, and palatability. Nevertheless, the majority of street foods are detrimental to health. The present study aimed to assess the bacteriological quality of selected street foods in open and closed environments in the city of Lucknow. This study focused on 6 street food samples and 120 vendors’ hygiene practices. The 6 food samples were selected from open-air stalls, and the same 6 food samples were selected from indoor shops that were randomly selected from 4 different locations in the city of Lucknow. The results of this study revealed that the samples collected from the open-air stalls were contaminated with pathogenic bacteria ranging from 9.44±0.96 log10 to 6.11±1.06 log10 (p<0.05). According to the questionnaire results, 81% of respondents were unaware of dish towels, hand washing, cutting nails, covering heads, and using gloves, and 94% of vendors were unaware of practices of knife and cutting board contamination. The findings of this study indicate that the street foods from the indoor shops were served under hygienic conditions, whereas the foods from the open-air stalls were served under unhygienic conditions that were not good for human health. However, in order to improve the final quality of these street foods, further strategies are needed, such as the street food makers' training, with the aim to apply good hygienic practices during production.