A Systematic Literature Review of Assessing the Level of Food Safety Knowledge Among Food Handlers in Malaysia

Being knowledgeable about food safety is one of the strategies to address food-borne diseases (FBD). The systematic review was focuses on food safety knowledge and the respective interventions. Generally, numerous relevant studies have been done to determine the level of food safety knowledge among food handlers, but studies from a Malaysian perspective were limited. Therefore, the present study reviewed a number of previous studies regarding level of food safety knowledge and type of interventions that have been done among various categories of food handlers in Malaysia. For the review purpose, preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) was adopted based on Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases. A total of 22 resulted from the searching and were analyzed systematically. The review of food safety knowledge was divided into three themes consisting of food handlers at premises, consumers, and students. The results of this review have identified the knowledge gap of food handlers, and the authors provide recommendations for future food safety education.

Food safety knowledge, attitudes, and eating behavior in the advent of the global coronavirus pandemic

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.