Abstract
The pandemic has affected almost all areas of people's lives and the way food is prepared is no exception. Food safety has been hit the hardest in the COVID-19 era. The aim of this paper was to investigate the attitudes and hygienic practices and food handling during social isolation by COVID-19 in Peruvian homes. A cross-sectional study was conducted that included 538 participants over 18 years of age from all regions of Peru, administering an online survey of 15 questions. The sample was selected by nonprobability sampling for convenience. The data were analysed using the statistical software IBM SPSS version 24 and the Chi-square test was used. A significance level of 5% was considered. Women represented the highest percentage of the sample (73.0%). 87.7% of the participants considered correct handling of food at home important during social isolation. Whereas 49.7% of the sample reported that they began to emphasize good handling practices when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Hand washing practices were more frequent in participants with a higher level of education (p<0.001). In general, the participants demonstrated a positive attitude and were aware of the role of hygienic practices when handling food.
Highlights
In January 2020, WHO officially declared COVID19 a global health emergency, representing a serious risk to the health and survival of populations (Phelan et al, 2020; Velavan and Meyer, 2020)
Attitudes and practices of hygiene and food handling were evaluated during the period of social isolation by COVID-19 in Peruvian households and a statistical correlation was established between the practices and the degree of education of the participants
We have found that the highest proportion of participants considered correct handling of food at home important during social isolation
Summary
In January 2020, WHO officially declared COVID19 a global health emergency, representing a serious risk to the health and survival of populations (Phelan et al, 2020; Velavan and Meyer, 2020). On March 11 of the same year, the government, through Supreme Decree No 008-2020-SA, declared a state of health emergency at the national level for a period of ninety calendar days, dictating prevention and control measures for COVID-19 (Gobierno del Perú, 2020a). These measures were extended until September 7 and December 31, 2020, respectively (Gobierno del Perú, 2020b). Transmission appears to be possible if the virus is transferred shortly thereafter through hands or food to the mucous membranes of the mouth, throat, or eyes (Rizou et al, 2020). The FDA suggests personal hygiene, such as hand washing, surface disinfection, keeping clean in food preparation environments are the main measures that should be applied during food handling (FDA, 2020)
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