Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude and Self-Reported Practices among Medical Students at Ain Shams University, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Foodborne diseases are a growing public health problem. The study of food safety knowledge and practice among university students is crucial as they are usually involved in food preparation for themselves and they are also the future food handlers for other household members. Objective: To estimate the knowledge, attitude and self-reported practice of food safety among medical students and to identify the relation of food safety knowledge on attitude and practice. Method: A cross sectional study was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University using a validated, anonymous self-administrated questionnaire that included several sections; sociodemographic data, food safety knowledge, attitude and questions related to food safety practice. Results: The questionnaire was completed by 244 medical students from the six faculty grades, 47% were males and 52.9% females, mean age in years ± SD was 21.9± 1.7. An insufficient level of food safety knowledge was found among students. Correct answers for the six food safety knowledge questions were selected by less than 50% of studied students. By gender, females had significantly higher food safety knowledge, attitude and practice mean scores (t=-3.01 p=0.003-t=-2.5 p=0.013-t=-3.03p=0.003) respectively. Knowledge score correlation with attitude and practice scores showed no statistical significance (r=0.04 p=0.45 and r=0.11 p=0.07) respectively. Students with more positive food safety attitude reported safer food practices (r=0.28 p<0.001). Conclusion: The insufficient level of food safety knowledge in this study highlighted the need to develop continued education on food safety targeting university students.