Knowledge, attitude and practice of food safety among institutional and prospective food handlers

Abstract

Food service industry in India is one of the most important sectors. Food handlers form an essential part of this industry since they play a crucial link from farm to fork in the food chain. The study aim was to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of food safety among the institutional and prospective food handlers. A purposive random sampling technique was employed to select a total of 100 respondents - 50 institutional food handlers (IFH) and 50 prospective food handlers (PFH) at selected institutions in New Delhi, India. Pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practice of food safety. The statistical analysis tests included Chi-square (χ2) test and Karl Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient (r). The findings of the study indicated male dominance in study population with majority being graduates with 1 – 2 years of experience. Knowledge, attitude and practice score was significantly higher among IFH than PFH (p