Bacterial Screening and Food Handler Observation to Prevent Potential Outbreaks due to Food Provision in a University Canteen in Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Objective. Tenants providing daily food in a big campus of approximately 50 thousand population are prone to an outbreak. This study aimed to observe the practice and compliance of food safety among the food providers.Methods. In a food safety training done for tenants in a university canteen, participants were asked to fill an online questionnaire, then randomly selected for food examination in the laboratory to look for E. coli and coliform bacteria.Results. Of the 500 tenants, 220 participated in the study but only 168 questionnaires were ready to be analysed. Male and female participants were approximately in similar composition, the same with food handlers and not food handler participants. Half of them finished high school; Higher education were observed among participants that were not food handlers. About ¾ of the participants were the owners who also worked as food handlers. The best food safety practice was washing hands compared to storing raw food, processing food, and storing processed food. Tenants who served uncooked food were significantly found to have higher E. coli, but no coliform containment found in the served food.Conclusion. We found the best food safety practice was hand washing. The uncooked food menu contained more pathogens than the cooked ones, and were not associated with the knowledge and practice of food safety.