The Impact of Knowledge on Food Hygiene Practices Among Food Handlers in a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria

Mathew Olumuyiwa BOJUWOYE; Olalekan Ayodele AGEDE; Mojirola Martina FASIKU; Olawale Stephen Aiyedun; Omotoyosi Nike ILESANMI; Ajibola IDOWU

Abstract

AbstractIn macro-scale cooking, the food is made by many people, thus intensifying the odds contamination of food due to improper handling. Intentional or accidental contamination of food in the course of largescale production can put at risk the health of consumers, and this has a costly consequence on a country. The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge about food safety, attitudes and practices among food handlers in tertiary hospitals in Nigeria. This cross-sectional study was conducted in a 650-bed tertiary care hospital in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara state, which is located in North Central Nigeria between May and June 2018. The study was conducted among food handlers (FHs) which include; the hospital kitchen staffs and the FHs in the various food outlets within hospital premises. Majority of the respondents were females (85.2%) and the age group with the highest frequency of 18 (22.2%) was 41–50 years. In our study, food handlers were knowledgeable about hygiene cleaning and hygiene procedures. Almost all food handlers knew this critical role of general workplace hygiene practices such as hand washing (96.3% correct responses), however, their knowledge of proper method of hand washing was poor with only 3.7% of respondents using water and detergent for hand washing. On disease spread, the results show that 95.1% of food handlers are aware that cockroaches and flies transmit food borne pathogens. Majority of the respondents (87.7%) agreed that pathogenic microbes are the causation of food poisoning. A logistic regression analysis test showed two models statistically significant differences (p <0.05) for model 2 with explanatory variables such as, proper hand hygiene can prevent food borne illness, food handlers should wear aprons and headgear cover while cooking and so on. As a whole, institutional food handlers have adequate knowledge of food safety but not associated with certain socio-demographics characteristics such as level of education.Keyword: Food-handlers, socio-demographic, knowledge, hygienic practicesCitation: Matthew Olumuyiwa Bojuwoye, Olalekan Ayodele Agede, Mojirola Martina Fasiku Olawale Stephen Aiyedun, Omotoyosi Nike Ilesanmi, Ajibola Idowu. The Impact of Knowledge on Food Hygiene Practices Among Food Handlers in a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Medical Science and Technology. 2022; 11(3): 14–20p.