[A method to estimate the nutritional value of food sold by street vendors]

Food bought outside the house from woman vendors accounts for a significant part of the nutritional intake in urban areas in Africa regardless of age and socio-economic category of the inhabitants. Despite this fact outdoor food consumption is not adequately taken into account in relevant studies. The great variability in space and time of recipes used by vendors makes it very difficult to estimate the nutritional value of the food consumed. The purpose of the present study which was carried out on some female vendors in Bamako, Mali, was to evaluate a simplified assessment method. Assessment is based on information that vendors can easily provide: recipes including ingredients and quantities and sales figures. The results obtained were coherent and appeared to be fairly accurate. However they have to be confirmed by laboratory analyses. Compared to average per capita wages in Mali, the income of these female vendors appears to be high.