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Effect of Public Health Education on Safe Street-Food Consumption Practices among University Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Street foods provide convenient and relatively affordable meals for many university students in Nigeria, particularly students who live in hostels or away from their families and may depend on food vendors for regular meals. However, inadequate food hygiene, improper food handling, poor personal hygiene among food vendors, unsafe water, inadequate storage, cross-contamination, exposure of food to dust and insects, and insufficient cooking or reheating may increase the risk of foodborne illnesses. University students may frequently consume street foods without having adequate knowledge of food safety risks or the practices necessary to select safer food vendors and food products. Public health education provides an opportunity to improve students' knowledge of food safety and encourage safer street-food consumption practices. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of public health education on safe street-food consumption practices among university students in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Health Belief Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and Health Literacy Theory. The Health Belief Model explains how students' perceptions of susceptibility to foodborne diseases, perceived severity of food-safety risks, perceived benefits of safe food practices, perceived barriers, and cues to action may influence their street-food consumption behaviours. Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes observational learning, self-efficacy, behavioural modelling, reinforcement, and environmental influences in developing and maintaining safe food-consumption practices. Health Literacy Theory emphasizes students' ability to obtain, understand, evaluate, and apply food-safety information when making decisions about food consumption. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how public health education may influence safe street-food consumption practices among university students in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise undergraduate students aged 18 years and above enrolled in selected public and private universities across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, universities, faculties or departments, levels of study, and eligible students. Public health education will be assessed using indicators such as exposure to food-safety education sessions, frequency and duration of education, knowledge of foodborne diseases, awareness of food contamination, recognition of food-handling risks, understanding of personal hygiene, knowledge of safe food storage and temperature control, awareness of cross-contamination, recognition of unsafe water and food preparation conditions, and knowledge of appropriate food selection practices. Safe street-food consumption practices will be assessed using indicators such as selecting clean and reputable food vendors, observing food preparation conditions, choosing adequately cooked foods, avoiding visibly contaminated or uncovered foods, assessing food storage conditions, avoiding food exposed to flies and dust, checking cleanliness of utensils and serving surfaces, ensuring appropriate reheating of previously prepared foods, avoiding unsafe water or ice, maintaining hand hygiene before eating, and avoiding foods from vendors with poor hygiene conditions. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, food-safety knowledge assessment instruments, street-food consumption practice tools, food-vendor observation checklists where appropriate, and pre-test and post-test assessments where a quasi-experimental intervention is adopted. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize students' demographic characteristics, street-food consumption patterns, sources of food-safety information, exposure to health education, and safe food-consumption practices. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of public health education on safe street-food consumption practices. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, safe street-food consumption practice scores before and after the educational intervention may be compared with those of a comparison group to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that public health education has a significant positive effect on safe street-food consumption practices among university students in Nigeria. Students exposed to structured and practical food-safety education are expected to demonstrate safer practices when purchasing and consuming street foods than students without comparable exposure. Education may improve students' ability to recognize unsafe food-handling conditions, identify hygienic vendors, assess food storage and preparation practices, avoid potentially contaminated foods, and make informed food choices. Practical demonstrations and visual examples may further improve students' ability to identify food-safety risks in real-world street-food environments. However, low food prices, convenience, limited food choices around campuses, peer influence, time constraints, students' income levels, and widespread poor hygiene conditions among some food vendors may limit the effectiveness of education alone. The study therefore expects accessible, practical, continuous, and context-specific public health education, combined with improved food-vendor hygiene and environmental sanitation, to contribute significantly to safer street-food consumption practices among university students in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on street-food safety, food hygiene, foodborne disease prevention, public health education, food safety knowledge, university student health, environmental health, health promotion, nutrition, and public health in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Federal Ministry of Education, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, state ministries of health, local government authorities, universities, environmental health officers, food safety practitioners, public health professionals, food vendors, development partners, and policymakers regarding strategies for improving the safety of street foods consumed by students. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for integrating food-safety education into university health-promotion programmes, strengthening students' ability to identify safer street-food vendors, improving food-safety awareness, promoting hygienic food consumption practices, strengthening environmental health monitoring around university communities, and developing sustainable interventions for reducing foodborne health risks among university students across Nigeria.

Keywords: Public health education, safe street-food consumption, university students, food safety, food hygiene, foodborne diseases, health education, environmental health, health promotion, Nigeria, public health.