Knowledge, attitude and practices of food safety among food handlers in Ismailia city hospitals, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Foodborne diseases and threats to food safety constitute a growing public health problem. WHO estimates that foodborne and waterborne diarrheal diseases taken together kill about 2.2 million people annually, 1.9 million of them children and about 70% from developing countries. Aim of this study: Was to improve quality of life of hospitalized patients. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted on 132 workers in food catering services in Ismailia city hospitals to assess their knowledge, attitude and practice about food safety. Data were collected by using a predesigned questionnaire adapted from WHO including two components: the first one is a self administered questionnaire to assess the baseline level of knowledge and attitude while the other one is an observational checklist to evaluate their practices about food safety and food hygiene. Results: The majority of the study participants 82.6% of them didn't know the correct answer regarding the duration they should rub their hands during hand washing and only 33.3% of them were aware of the importance of washing hands after handling raw meat. Moreover, 59.1% of them were ignore why raw foods have to be kept separate from cooked foods and 64.4% also were un aware of the proper temperature of cooking chicken. Regarding their practices only 40.9% of them were always washing their hands before handling food and only 25.8% of them were always Storing separately raw & cooked foods. Moreover 46.2% of them were most of the time thawing food as much as needed and 47% were most of the time using separately equipment & supplies for raw & RTE food. Conclusion: This study showed that there is an identified gap in knowledge and correct practices among food handlers and that there is a need for raising awareness about food safety by education programs regarding food safety and safe food handling practices.