Handling Practices of Folded Vermicelli by Small-scale Processors in Tanga City, Tanzania

Table 8. Storage of finalproducts and market information

Variable	Respondents/ categories	Frequency	Percent (%)
Do you have store for final products?	Yes	13	43.3
	No	17	56.7
Products stored until next season	Yes	0	0.0
	No	30	100.0
Storage duration (in month)	< 1	15	50.0
	1 – 3	9	30.0
	4 – 6	6	20.0
	> 6	0	0.0
Spoilage problems of stored products	Yes	5	16.7
	No	25	83.3
Possible sources of spoilage	Moulds	3	10.0
	Insects/ rodents	2	6.7
Customers	Wholesalers, retailers and individual	8	26.7
	Wholesalers and retailers	3	10.0
	Retailers and individual	19	63.3
Do you receive any complaint from customers?	Yes	14	46.7
	No	16	53.3
What kind of complaint?	Inadequate dried products	2	6.7
	Easy breakage/brittle products	8	26.7
	Foreign matter contamination	3	10.0
	Discoloration of the products	1	3.3
Have customers return products?	Yes	6	20.0
	No	24	80.0
What you do for returned products?	Receive and destroy it	2	6.7
	Use/sell as animal/chicken feed	4	13.3

Key: <: less than; >: greater than; Source: (Author survey, 2023).