Food Safety Practice and Associated Factors Among Food Handlers in Public Food Establishments of Batu Town, Oromia Region, Southern Ethiopia

Background

Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illnesses. This includes the number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards. Food can transmit diseases from one person to the other as well as serve as a growth medium for bacteria that can cause food poisoning. Food safety is of the utmost health concern and a significant challenge in both low-income and industrialized countries.

Objective

To Study the magnitude of food safety practice and associated factors among food Handlers working in public food establishments of Batu town, Oromia region from May 11- 31, 2020.

Methods and materials

Institutional based cross sectional study design was used, on 302 Food handlers working in all 151 public food establishments in Batu town that were selected by simple Random Sampling method. Then Data collection was done by two diploma nurse by using structured pretested questionnaire and institutional observation checklist. Data was entered in to Epi info version 7.0 computer software and exported to SPSS version 20 computer software for analyzes. Accordingly, descriptive statistics were used to describe the independent variables in relation to the outcome variable. Bivariable, logistic regression analyses will be done to see the association between each independent variable and the outcome variable. All variables with p-value <0.25 during bivariable was entered in to multiple logistic regression models to control for all possible confounders and to identify factors associated with the outcome variable. Odds ratio along with 95%CI were estimated to measure the strength of the association. Finally, level of statistical significant was declared at p-value <0.05.

Results

In this study a total of 302 food handlers were participated with a response rate of (99%). Proportion of good food safety practice was 176(58.3%) within 95% confidence interval from 52.3% to 63.6%whereas 126(41.7%) of the study participants had poor food safety practice. Knowledge on food safety [AOR =3.897, 95%CI (2.280, 6.663)] and food safety training [AOR =3.108, 95%CI (1.309, 7.382)] were factors statistically associated with good food safety practice. Food Handler those had good knowledge on food safety practice was 3.897 times higher odds of food safety practice as compared to those who had poor knowledge on food safety practice [AOR =3.897, 95%CI (2.280, 6.663)]. This study indicated that food safety practice was relatively medium.

Author(s): Shumi Atina1*, Godana Arero2

Abstract | Full-Text | PDF

Share This Article