Knowledge and food hygiene practices among food handlers in food establishments

Background: Food handlers with poor personal hygiene and lack of awareness of important issues in preventing food borne diseases, working in food establishments could be potential sources of infections of many intestinal helminthes of protozoa and enterogenic pathogens. The objective of the study was to procure information about various food handling practices and spread awareness about the prevention of food borne diseases.Methods:An organization based cross-sectional study. All the food handlers in given area like Suraram, Shapur, Jeedimetla, Gajulramaram, Chintal and Gandimaisamma were contacted. A total of 86 food handlers in food establishments were interviewed within the stipulated time. The required data is obtained by per designed questionnaire method; the data collection involves the following criteria – Food handling practices, environmental and personal hygiene, knowledge of food hygiene and safety and also their attitude, measures taken for controlling and preventing of food borne illnesses, incidence of food borne diseases. Proportions and Chi square test were used for analysis of the data.Results: It was found that maximum food handlers were not certified in food training (82.5%). Only 27.9% of food handlers reported that they heard about food borne diseases. That is they were aware that food can be a source of infection if not handled properly. Awareness or knowledge was better in females (36.8%) compared to males (25.3%). Majority of food handlers acquired their knowledge through mass media. It is seen that overall the attitude of food handlers towards handling of food was satisfactory. In the present study, it was found that all practices related to food hygiene were very well followed by majority of the food handlers in the study.Conclusions:The overall knowledge, attitude and practices of the food handlers were very good and above the average.