Mediating Effect of Preventive Measures on Food Safety Knowledge and Food Hygiene Practices

Abstract

Food borne diseases represent a persistent public health problem in developed and developing countries. This study investigates if preventive measures mediate the relationship between food safety knowledge among food handlers and their food handling behaviours. Data is gathered from a sample of 300 food handlers attached to school canteens in four zones in Peninsular Malaysia. Using Amos 22.0, the finding indicates that there is partial mediation effect. As such, this research emphasizes the importance of preventive measure in food service operation which is critical to food hygiene training program as this may result in exhibited behavioural change in safe food handling.Keywords: Food safety knowledge, Food handlers, Preventive measures, Food hygiene practiceseISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. http://dx.doi.org/10.21834/ajbes.v3i11.108