DISCUSSION Food sanitation in each food shop and food stall was checked by using a food sanitation inspection form. The major problems were unclean floors and floors covered with dust. In addition, some food stalls had preparation tables and sell food tables with a height of less than 60 cm. Within these conditions, the ready-to-eat food in food stalls might be contaminated. As for raw food or ingredients, in this study many shops put raw food on the floor which might cause bacterial contamination and poor food hygiene. In the study of Mosupye and Holy2, researchers found bacterial counts of raw beef, raw chicken as well as salad and raw materials were significantly higher than those of their corresponding ready-to-eat samples. Furthermore, some foods such as stir-fried basil and soup were composed of many vegetables which might be found to have organophosphate contamination if those vegetables were not washed by soaking in water and washed in running water. Moreover, harvesting, storing, transporting and distribution were sources of bacterial
contamination, and therefore in preparing raw food, food handlers have to complete all the necessary food washing steps in order to reduce the risk of possible contamination. Many studies found that not peeling and not cleaning vegetables and other ingredients were associated with an elevated risk of contamination with pathogens3, resulting in detected organophosphate in cauliflower and bitter gourd. Regarding ready-to-eat food, there were food shops and about three fourths of the food stalls that did not keep food in the covered cabinet because they thought the consumers could not see the food inside and that access would be less convenient. In addition, the ready to eat food might be getting contaminated by food handlers who talk to customers and others while serving food. In the study of Mensah et al4, they assessed factors that could influence food contamination; it was found that uncovered food may have a higher bacterial contamination. From the results, there were no food handlers reheating ready-to-eat food. In fact, foods were generally cooked in the early morning, and then they were stored at ambient temperature which affects the bacteria growth3. Dishes and spoons were kept under the stall because there was not enough space. The results of this study were similar to Christison et al5 who found that the food preparation surfaces had the highest coliform and E. coli contamination. About one third of food shop handlers did not wear aprons and one sixth did not wear hair nets, while almost all food stall food handlers did not wear hair nets and about one fourth of food handlers did not wear an apron. About half of the food handlers wore jewelry. Furthermore, the food handlers did not wash their hands after handling money and before handling food again. All of these problems have been shown to possibly lead to unsafe food6. From the food sanitation survey it was found that no food shops passed the total basic standard requirement of food sanitation or even passed at the level of more than 70 percent or 7 out of 9 items, and the survey of food stalls found that there was no food stall which passed the total basic standard of food sanitation, only 16.4% of the food stalls passed more than 5 out of 7 items. Most of the food shops did not have good food sanitation such as waste containers, drainage systems and personal hygiene while most of food stalls did