scholarly journals Food safety knowledge and self- reported practices among Saudi women

Author(s):  
Leila Arfaoui ◽  
Maisa Mortada ◽  
Haneen Ghandourah ◽  
Wejdan Alghafari

Background: Foodborne diseases due to improper food handling in home kitchens are among the most significant public health challenges worldwide. Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate food safety knowledge and self-reported practices among Saudi women. Methods: A total of 1490 women, aged between 18 and 60 years participated in this online survey. Collected and cured data were analyzed using descriptive statistics via the SPSS software. Chi-square (X2) test was performed to identify associations between variables. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Participants showed an overall knowledge score of 16.53 ± 2.8/23 points (72%). About 4.5%, 57.5% and 38% had low, intermediate and good knowledge scores, respectively. Women had higher scores of knowledge in personal hygiene (5.2±0.8/6 points) and in purchasing and storage (5.8±1.2/8 points) compared to food preparation and cooking (4.5±1.8/8 points). The overall practice score was 35.50 ± 5.53/50 points (71%). About 7%, 52% and 41% of the participants exhibited low, intermediate and good practices scores, respectively. Participants’ practice scores of personal hygiene, utensils and equipment, purchasing and storage, and preparation and cooking were 11.10±2.33/15, 6.38±1.47/8, 8.72±1.84/12 and 9.30±2.08/15, respectively. Among the participants’ characteristics, women aged 26 years and older, those having marriage experience and those with children had significantly higher food safety knowledge (p<0.001) than the young, single and women without children. Moreover, women with higher levels of education and those employed in health-related professions showed significantly higher knowledge and practice scores than their counterparts (p < 0.001). Conclusion: This study reported an intermediate overall food safety knowledge and practices among most adult Saudi women. Therefore, further targeted public education programs focusing mainly on food preparation and cooking are recommended to enhance women’s food safety knowledge and practices and thereby improve overall public health.

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tareq M. Osaili ◽  
Anas A. Al-Nabulsi ◽  
Asma' O. Taybeh

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) amongst university students in Jordan and changes in food-related behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Correlation between food safety KAP scores and general characteristics of university students was also evaluated.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted where an Internet-based questionnaire was distributed through social media platforms. The sample consisted of 1,739 respondents from 29 Jordanian universities. The participants completed a 58-item questionnaire covering demographical characteristics and different food safety aspects which were namely “COVID-19 food-related attributes,” “food cooking and storage,” “personal hygiene.” “cross-contamination prevention/disinfection procedures.” and “restaurant hygiene.” Descriptive statistics, Chi square tests and binary logistic analysis were used to assess the data.Results: The sample consisted of 67.2% females with a mean age of 21.3 ± 1.8 years. The average overall score of the tested aspects was 14.1/34.0 which corresponds to 41.3% of the questions being answered correctly. The percentage of correct answers of “COVID-19 food-related attributes,” “food cooking and storage,” “cross-contamination prevention/disinfection procedures,” “personal hygiene” and “restaurant hygiene” was 56.8, 36.6, 28.4, 44.6. and 36.9%, respectively. A significant (P &lt;0.05) association between respondents' food safety KAP scores and gender, marital status, university degree, employment status, self-rating of food safety knowledge, and the source of food safety information.Conclusion: University students in Jordan had insufficient KAP scores which is a concerning trend during the pandemic. Teaching fundamentals of food safety in the form of short courses/ lectures is recommended.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-76
Author(s):  
Md Zakiul Hassan ◽  
Md Saiful Islam ◽  
Md Salauddin ◽  
Abu Hena Abid Zafr ◽  
Shahinul Alam

Background: Chotpoti is a popular street food among all groups of people from low to high income in most cities of Bangladesh.Objective: This study was conducted to describe the vending sites, the stalls and equipments used for food preparation, current level of food safety knowledge of vendors and the way to prepare foods to understand the risks of food contamination and opportunities for prevention.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between July and October, 2012. We selected 18 popular chotpoti vending sites including market places, bus stops, road sides and amusement parks located under Dhaka city corporation areas by judgment sampling. From each study site we randomly selected six vendors for interview. A structured pretested questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were collected on (i) socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the respondents; (ii) health and personal hygiene knowledge of vendors; (iii) vendors’ food handling practices and (iv) source of ingredients and process of chotpoti making. Location of the chotpoti vendors, utensils used, handling of food, place of preparation of chotpoti, environment surroundings of the stall, general processing of chotpoti and hygienic practices were observed and recorded through an observation checklist.Results: We interviewed a total of 110 vendors. All vendors were male, the majority was between 21 and 30 years of age. Majority (58.2%) of the vendors acquired the knowledge of chotpoti preparation through observation. Nearly all vendors (99%) handled food with bare hands, 95% did not use aprons and hair covering and 94% handled money while serving chotpoti. Most vendors had leftovers; out of those 30% reported discarding them and the rest stored them for following day’s sale with inappropriate storage. Nearly one-third (32.7%) of the vendors washed their utensils with dirty water which is recycled. Majority reported that they changed the bucket water only once per 12 hours. Presence of flies was observed on food and surroundings of 33% of the stalls. Of the vendors interviewed, most of them did not have garbage receptacles and 23% disposed wastes nearby their stalls and 76% disposed in nearby dustbin.Conclusion: This study demonstrates that chotpoti vendors do not have formal education and formal training on food preparation. Moreover, lack of hand hygiene knowledge, infrequent cleaning of utensils with soap, inappropriate management of leftover foods, and lack of proper waste management create numerous possibilities for food contamination. Consumption of street vended chotpoti may pose a risk of food borne diseases and steps should be taken to educate and train the vendors on personal hygiene and food handling practices.J Enam Med Col 2017; 7(2): 69-76


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-26
Author(s):  
Dina Aulya Wahab ◽  
Mitha Erlisya Puspandhani ◽  
Shella Febiana

Utilization of clinical sanitation is where people use clinical sanitation room and follow activity in clinical saanitation. Efforts to prevent diseases of the upper respiratory tract, namely to prevent direct or indirect contact with patients with upper respiratory tract infections and using PPE, maintaining environmental cleanliness, maintaining personal hygiene with clean and healthy living behaviors in the household order. Depend on data of Public Health Office Cirebon at 2018, achievement program clinical sanitation just reach clinical sanitation is 30%, number of ISPA cases reach number 26.142 people. This research uses correlation descriptive, approach with cross sectional. Population is all of people in Puskesmas Working Area Cirebon as much 2.506 people. Sample technic which use is purposiv sampling technic as much 97 people. Instrumen which uses this research is questionare. Result of research shows 97 responden total responden which utilize clinical sanitation as much 88 responden or 90,7% more than which not utilize clinical sanitation as much 9,3%. P value which is got as bis as 0,00 and smller of value a = 0,05. This result shows that there is relation utilization of clinical sanitation which prevent ISPA disease in Puskesmas Working Area Majasem Cirebon.  Be expected that the agency more improve clinical sanitation program and educate the public related importance to maintain environmental health.


2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 518-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hussein F. Hassan ◽  
Hani Dimassi ◽  
Zeina Nakat Karam

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess level of food safety knowledge and self-reported practices among Lebanese food handlers in Lebanese households and to identify the association between knowledge/practices and socio-demographic characteristics. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,500 participants from different gender, age, area of residence, income, marital status and education. They completed a questionnaire of six questions about demographics, and 26 questions related to knowledge and self-reported practices in terms of food handling, storage, usage of kitchen facilities and personal hygiene subgroups. SPSS v23 was used for statistical analyses. Student t-test and analysis of variance were conducted. Significance level of 0.05 was used. Findings On average, participants scored 55.6±16.3, 51.3±25.7, 67.4±19.3 and 89.1±16.3 on food handling, storage, usage of kitchen facilities and personal hygiene, respectively, whereas the passing (score above 50 percent) rates were 64.5, 69.9, 90.5 and 99.1, respectively, for the different subgroups. Gender had significant (p<0.05) effect on food handling and personal hygiene; age, marital status and education had significant (p<0.05) effect on handling, usage of kitchen facilities and personal hygiene; area of residence had significant (p<0.05) effect on storage, handling and usage of kitchen facilities; income had significant (p<0.05) effect on handling and usage of kitchen facilities. Overall mean food safety knowledge and self-reported practices score was 63.8±12.6; passing rate was 86.2; gender, age, area of residence, education, marital status and income had significant (p<0.05) effect. Food safety self-reported practices and knowledge scores were significantly (p<0.001) related to a weak to moderate correlation coefficient (R=0.34). Practical implications The results confirm the need for ongoing educational initiatives to improve the relatively low food safety knowledge and practices among the Lebanese food handlers in Lebanese households. Originality/value No study has determined the food safety knowledge and self-reported practices of Lebanese food handlers in Lebanese households before.


Author(s):  
UBADA AQEEL ◽  
MOHAMMAD DAUD ALI ◽  
ZEENAT IQBAL ◽  
MOHD. AAMIR MIRZA

Objective: In the given study, we have carried out a survey among general population of Delhi NCR (India) for the knowledge, perceptions, and attitude toward coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and also attempted to reach to a few conclusions in the form of recommendations. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire based online survey (using Google Forms) was conducted between April 2020 and May 2020 to investigative knowledge, perceptions, and attitude toward COVID-19. Chi-square test was used for the computation of p-value. Results: There were total 823 respondents, with 43.01% females and 56.98% males. Around 73.74% respondents believe that it has become a social stigma. About 75.09% were of the opinion that sneezing etiquettes can help in curbing the infection. About 93.43% of study population follows the personal hygiene, 24.78% wished to get insurance coverage. Similarly, interesting data were collected over different aspects of COVID-19. Conclusions: The current pandemic is the first exposure at such a large scale to the existing population but with the progression of time, authorities and general population are collating knowledge about the same. It is to be fought at all the fronts such as medical, social, economic, and psychological. Hence, this type of survey becomes an important tool in decision making.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 117863022110601
Author(s):  
Henok Dagne ◽  
Jember Azanaw ◽  
Tesfaye Hagos ◽  
Kidstemariam Addis

Background: Food-borne diseases represent a widespread and growing public health problem, both in developed and developing countries. However, this problem has more impact on health and economy in developing countries than in developed countries but reliable data is not available. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done in 2019 at Debarq town, Amhara region, Northwest Ethiopia. A questionnaire prepared in English after adapted from previous studies then translated in to local language Amharic was used in order to collect the data. Data were checked manually for completeness, coded, and entered in to Epi Info version 7.1 and then exported in to SPSS version 26 statistical package for analyze. Descriptive statistics, percentage, frequency, standard deviation, and mean were analyzed. Likewise, bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression analysis were done to know the relationship between the independent variables and attitude of food safety among mothers. The variables found having a P-value <.2 in the bivariable analysis were further analyzed in multivariable binary logistic regression. The variables with P-value <.05 were considered as significantly associated with food safety attitude of mothers. Results: About 423 mothers of under-5 children were involved in this study. The mean age of the participants was 39.844 ± 11.02. In this study, educational status (primary education (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR]: 2.66; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] [1.42-4.97]), secondary education (AOR: 2.66; 95% CI [3.35-14.05]), and diploma and above (AOR: 4.07; 95% CI [1.65-10.06])), higher income (AOR: 3.58; 95% CI [1.54-8.29]), good food safety knowledge (AOR: 3.08; 95% CI [1.51-6.242]) and good food hygiene practice (AOR: 3.97; 95% CI [2.33-6.75]) were factors associated with food safety attitude in the current study. Conclusion: Significant proportion of participants in the study area had poor food safety attitude. Educational status, income, food safety knowledge, and food safety practice were significantly associated with food safety attitude among mothers. Food hygiene practice, knowledge, and level of education should be increased in order to improve food safety attitudes among mothers who were responsible in food processing at household level.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marzena Tomaszewska ◽  
Katarzyna Neffe-Skocińska ◽  
Monika Trząskowska ◽  
Joanna Trafialek ◽  
Lidia Wadolowska ◽  
...  

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the knowledge and practices of selected group of Polish children in early school age in terms of issues such as: (1) the principles of food preparation, storage and eating meals; (2) personal hygiene; and (3) basic information about microorganisms.Design/methodology/approachThe auditorium survey method was used. The questionnaire consisted of 15 questions related to the children's knowledge of personal hygiene, the principles of food preparation and storage and the physiology of microorganisms and 13 questions related to the children's personal and food hygiene practice. In total, 169 questionnaires were collected. The study group of children had incomplete knowledge and often reported inappropriate food hygiene practices.FindingsThe subjects of food preparation and storage and knowledge of microbes were particular problem areas. By contrast, aspects related to handwashing, the appropriate practices while coughing or sneezing and washing fruit before consumption were positively evaluated. The children demonstrated the most knowledge in the field of personal hygiene. However, a very low percentage of correct answers was noted for the question about handwashing at school. None of the 13 questions related to this practice received more than 90% correct answers. The boys and girls demonstrated a comparable level of knowledge and practice in the area of food safety. It was showed that the place of school influenced answers to a greater extent compared to gender.Originality/valueThe results of the study play an important role in the prevention of food poisoning and are useful for the teachers, staff of training institutions and parents. They can also inspire institutions in countries with a high incidence of food poisoning to search for the causes in the inappropriate hygienic practices of young children.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Liu

The objective of this lab protocol was to evaluate the relationships among food safety knowledge, attitude and eating behavior of consumers during lockdowns in the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 157 respondents completed the online survey using a structured questionnaire worldwide. Overall, the respondents exhibited good attitude and good knowledge towards public health including food safety especially on the importance of social distancing, mask wearing, well-balanced diet, physical exercise and personal hygiene, such as hand washing during the pandemic lockdowns. A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was established to test the relationships among food safety knowledge, attitude and behavior under the pandemic conditions. Results showed that attitude towards food safety under the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns positively affected the eating behavior of the respondents, which exhibited a high β (0.686) among the variables tested (p<0.05). Food safety knowledge was apparently not affected by the food safety behavior of the respondents.


2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Akif Dündar

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every field as well as the consumer attitudes and behaviors regarding food safety. This study is a cross-sectional study in a screening model planned to determine the changes that the COVID-19 pandemic has made in the personal judgments, attitudes and behaviors of Bitlis Eren University academic and administrative staff on food safety. In the study, online survey method was used as a data collection tool. As a result of the study, the majority of the participants think that COVID-19 is not transmitted through food and that contamination is prevented by keeping the purchased products from outside such as markets and bazaar for at least eight hours. In the participants (66.1 %), it was observed that the time allocated to personal care and hygiene increased with the COVID-19 pandemic. It was found that the importance given by the participants to food safety, agriculture, personal hygiene and sanitation has increased with the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of the participants reported that with the COVID-19 pandemic, people fear of going without food and the importance of hygiene and sanitation rules in food businesses has increased. It has emerged that the concepts of agriculture, food safety, hygiene and sanitation gained value in the COVID-19 pandemic.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0261832
Author(s):  
Zhe Liu ◽  
Anthony N. Mutukumira ◽  
Cong Shen

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationships of food safety knowledge, attitude and eating behavior of consumers during national lockdowns in the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 157 respondents completed the online survey using a structured questionnaire worldwide. Overall, the respondents exhibited good attitude and good knowledge towards public health including food safety especially on the importance of social distancing, mask wearing, well-balanced diet, physical exercise and personal hygiene, such as hand washing during the pandemic lockdowns. A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the relationships among food safety knowledge, attitude and behavior under the pandemic conditions. Results showed that attitude towards food safety under the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns positively affected the eating behavior of the respondents, which exhibited a high β (0.686) among the variables tested (p<0.05). Food safety knowledge was apparently not affected by the food safety behavior of the respondents.


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