Assessment of consumption and postharvest handling of fruits and vegetables in some selected boarding Senior High Schools in the Northern Region of GHANA

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2015-07-11
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This study was conducted to assess the level of consumption and postharvest handling of fruits and vegetables in some selected Boarding Senior High Schools in the Northern Region of Ghana. The study involved both a survey and a laboratory work. Two sets of questionnaires were used to collect information from 450 students who were randomly selected from 15 Schools, (five from each of the 15 schools) made up of 75 kitchen staff and administrators. The study revealed that, majority of the respondents had adequate knowledge of fruits (98.8%) and vegetables (97%). Only 4% of the students consumed fruits in schools in times of glut as compared to the 96% of students who consumed vegetables. The students’ ranked mango (97.3%) and tomato (94.8%) and the kitchen staff ranked pepper (90.2%) as their top choice of fruits and vegetables. Sources of vegetables to the Schools were the market (93.3%) and school garden (6.7%). The price (98.7%) of the fruits and the quality (82.3%) of vegetables were the most important determinants that influenced their choice to be purchased. It was revealed that, only 8.98% of kitchen staff washed their vegetables with a mixture of water and vinegar which was a challenge in terms of contamination. The 46% of the schools using refrigerators was also a challenge in terms of storage. A Microbial study carried out on samples of vegetables (tomato, okro, pepper and onions) from 8 schools revealed that vegetables samples from Chereponi SHS and Ghana SHS had significantly (P<0.01) high Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus count than Tamale SHS. Samples from four schools had significant count of E. coli and Staphylococcus and the rest recorded lower count, however, the values for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus recorded by all the vegetables samples were within the acceptable limit 1.0x104 or less than 4 cfu as stated by Centre for Food Safety, (2007) and Ghana Standard Board (2009).
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A thesis submitted to School of Research and Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of Master of Philosophy (Mphil) degree in Postharvest Technology. 2015
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