Food Safety Farm to Fork Chain in Covid-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Solutions

Changes in food consumption patterns have resulted in the high demand and patronage of online food ordering and delivery services in Ghana. The attention of every individual involved in the food chain is needed to ensure food safety. Since a food delivery service and person are introduced in online food ordering and delivery services, new and unique food safety challenges and concerns are created. This paper hence investigates the food safety concerns and challenges posed by online food ordering and delivery services and further provide solutions to tackle and improve food safety in the service. Additional concerns raised by food ordering and delivery services include an absence of food transport or delivery regulation in Ghana, a lack of food safety education and training for food delivery persons as well as food fraud actions like mislabeling and substitution. To boost food safety in online food ordering and delivery services, the service should be regulated by the Ghana FDA with policies and manuals that address these food safety concerns. Food meant for delivery should be packaged well to prevent contact with insects and other contaminants. Timely delivery should be a priority to make sure delivered foods are still in the right and safe temperatures for consumption.

Food delivery services are popular and have become a necessity among Malaysians, especially during the pandemic Covid-19. Nevertheless, there are several issues faced by food delivery services primarily related to halal status and food hygiene. Using qualitative research methodology, this paper attempts to identify issues related to halal food delivery and its integrity. The findings showed that there are notable issues related to the food industry and delivery services that could be overcome by adhering to the control procedures issued by the National Security Council (MKN) and Islamic principles under the purview of Maqasid Shariah. Keywords: Covid-19, food delivery, food hygiene, halal eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6iSI6.3039

‘Led by the science’, evidence gaps, and the risks of aerosol transmission of SARS-COV-2

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in depression among college students due to anxiety and fear of infection. Nonetheless, COVID-19 infection prevention measures should be actively implemented. In this study, the mediating effect of health belief on the relationship between depression and infection prevention behavior was investigated. A survey of 220 South Korean college students was conducted. Depression was found to be the independent variable, health belief the mediating variable, and infection prevention behavior the dependent variable. The model fit index according to confirmatory factor analysis was found to be suitable. Depression among college students was not directly related to COVID-19 infection prevention behavior; however, depression was confirmed to be related to infection prevention behavior via the mediation of health belief. Arbitration measures, focusing on perceived severity and susceptibility during health belief, are required.

Purpose This study assesses the impact of online grocery shopping and food delivery services on food insecurity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This study uses an online survey of 1,532 respondents. Respondents’ sociodemographics, food consumption, purchasing behavior, food security status, food insecurity coping mechanisms and concerns associated with food safety were asked before and during COVID-19. Findings Online grocery shopping and food delivery services increase food insecurity. Moreover, households with female primary shoppers were less likely to be food insecure than households with male primary shoppers. Furthermore, households with children were more likely to be food insecure. Minority households, such as Black, Hispanic, Native American and younger households, were more likely to be food insecure. Research limitations/implications Panel data with the same households surveyed before and after COVID-19 would be a better approach. Similarly, the impact of online shopping on food insecurity needs further research, as many factors could be associated with online shopping that impact food insecurity, especially during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, a study of the long-term impact of online shopping on food insecurity would be interesting and could present broader and more generalizable results. Originality/value The impact of online shopping on food insecurity before and during COVID-19 has yet to be studied sufficiently. Given the increase in popularity of online grocery shopping, its impact on food insecurity still needs to be discovered. Besides online grocery shopping, we also study online food delivery services whose demand has gained momentum over the past few years, including during the pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: Due to erratic growth of COVID-19 infection across the globe, the mortality and morbidity due to COVID-19 is rapidly changing across the world. An assessment of the perception and practices of community members is important to reduce the risk for COVID-19 infection. Therefore, this study aims to assess the perception and practice regarding prevention of COVID-19 infection among community people before and after lockdown.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among community sample from November 2020 to January 2021 at Janakpur sub-metropolitan city of Dhanusha district, Province-2, Nepal. Two stage random sampling technique was used to select the study sample (n=422). A structured questionnaire was administered. McNemar Chi-square test was used to assess the association of perception and practice regarding prevention of COVID-19 infection during and after lockdown. P-values less than 0.05 were considered as significant.
 RESULTS: The perception among community people regarding prevention of COVID-19 infection during and after lockdown was insignificant for all the component (p>0.05) except perception regarding preventive measures against COVID-19; p=0.002 whereas the practices for prevention of COVID-19 infection among community people for all the components during and after lockdown was found to be significant (p<0.0001).
 CONCLUSIONS: The study showed decreased practices among community people after lockdown for the prevention of COVID-19 infection compared to practices during lockdown. However, perception remains unchanged during and after lockdown for the prevention of COVID-19 infection. Therefore, the government and non-government agencies should implement awareness program through mass media and social campaigns to improve the practices on prevention of COVID-19 infection even after lockdown, among community people.

Online food delivery service (FDS) is the new gig economy in this era of new normal. Online FDS refers to the process whereby food that was ordered online is prepared and delivered to the consumer. FDS falls at the end of a food supply chain, the final stage just before the food reaches customers. However, this stage can make or break a wholesome food production, particularly in halal food supply chain. This paper revisits the guidelines of FDS in Malaysia; then extended to the measures taken during Covid-19 pandemic. The focus is food safety and quality, and halal supply chain. It is hoped that this overview will become a source of information for the public for their peace of mind, and the food delivery service providers to deliver wholesome food to their customers

BackgroundHealthcare providers, particularly nurses, are at risk of infection as part of the COVID-19 pandemic since they assist in the disease's containment. By recognising the risk factors for infection and implementing suitable measures to reduce these risks, all reasonable efforts should be taken to control the spread of infection to them. The aim of the present study was to determine the level of infection prevention and control practises used by primary healthcare nurses in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methodsCross-sectional design to examine the preventive practices of COVID-19 among healthcare professionals and community health nurses (n = 198) who worked in primary healthcare facilities in southwest Riyadh. Staff were randomly recruited, and a self-administered questionnaire was employed to collect demographic data, sources of COVID-19 information, and COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures. ResultsMost of participants were male (57.6%), aged 30_39 years (50.5%), married (61.6), with monthly income of more than10,000 SAR, and more than half (74.0%) of the participants hold a diploma degree. Social media was the most prevalent source of information about COVID-19 (69.25%). About 91.4% used facemask in crowds and 65.2% of the participants wore medical Personal Protective Equipment during prescribing drugs. Furthermore, 94.5% of the participants wore a simple facemask and 32.8% washed their hands with running water and handwashing liquid. Females were most users of gloves and simple mask; who had a monthly income of 5000 SAR or more were the most who wore goggle mask and apron; non-nurse staff, aged 40_49 years and who had more than 10 years of experience were the most users of N95 respirator; while nurses, aged 30_39 years and with 6_10 years of experience were the most who used gowns. Participants' age, income, and work experience were all found to be important factors linked with COVID-19 infection prevention and control practices. ConclusionOverall practicing preventive measures by Healthcare professionals in Saudi primary healthcare centres to encounter COVID-19 pandemic were generally significant. Policymakers at the Ministry of Health should monitor preventive practises regarding COVID-19 infection among all healthcare providers in other facilities. It is recommended to conduct systematic reviews and amend current guidelines for preventive practices in the COVID-19 pandemic to promote maximum state among population.

BackgroundEarthing is a body contact with earth without insulator. In previous studies, grounding revealed anti-inflammatory effect, immunity enhancement, anticoagulation, and rising blood oxygenation. AimTo investigate the role of earthing in treatment and prevention of COVID-19 infection. MethodsAn observational and interventional study included 71 cases with COVID-19 infection. Earthing was applied as preventive and treatment measures. All participants conducted earthing through direct contact with the earth or connecting apparatus for about 15 min to 6 h/day. ResultsSixty-nine patients were fully improved within 2 h–11 days after commencement of earthing (mean: 2.9 days, SD ± 2, median: 2 days), while the mean illness duration was 8.9 days (SD ± 4.6) and the median was 9 days. Two patients with many risk factors died where earthing was carried out insufficiently and too late. Nine people contracted mild or short-lived illness (mean: 6.3 days, SD ± 5.5) as a consequence of performing prophylactic earthing. There was a spectacular response in a critically ill patient who was unable to speak due to severe dyspnea with blood oxygen level 38% on continuous oxygen supply. On the second day, after two sessions of 3 h daily earthing, his oxygen level raised to 95% with oxygen supply and 77% without oxygen supply. The following symptoms were improved after implementing earthing: fever, dyspnea, cough, weakness, headache, chest pain, taste and smell sensation loss, anorexia, and body pain. ConclusionsEarthing revealed significant curing and preventive effects with a shorter illness duration.

In this era of technology, the development and explosion of the internet has created the online business platform for the services and products. One of the areas is the food delivery services. With development of mobile applications for food delivery, it has eased the process of delivering the ordered food, and at the same time create convenience to the beverage industry (Wang et al., 2019). The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in early last year has impacted everyone's daily life and resulted in pandemic control measures such as Movement Control Order (MCO) by the Malaysian government around the country. This change has required Malaysian to engage with new norms such as wearing masks, physical distancing and hand hygiene in their daily life. The pandemic has also sparked a new consumption pattern in society. Many people have opted for food delivery services and thus inflated the demand of food delivery service in Malaysia. Hence, understanding customer satisfaction towards the mobile food delivery apps is essential. There are several studies on the customer satisfaction towards online food delivery service during the COVID-19 pandemic (Prasetyo et al., 2021; Rahim & Yunus, 2021). Pasetyo et al. (2021) investigated the customer satisfaction and loyalty from the extended Theory of Planned Behaviour perspective. Meanwhile Rahim and Yunus (2021) examined the relationship between service quality, food quality and price of e-hailing food delivery service. However, these studies did not examine the effect of convenience and website quality on consumers satisfaction toward the mobile food delivery apps. Based on these, this study aims to examine the influence of the factors, namely service quality, convenience, price and website quality on customer satisfaction towards the mobile food delivery apps during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, Mobile Food Delivery Apps, COVID-19 Pandemic

Posyandu services were stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic, posyandu services were carried out independently with the implementation model being handed over to each region according to the conditions or covid zone of each region. The implementation of the posyandu must strictly comply with established health protocols to minimize the risk of Covid-19 transmission. The initial survey conducted found that mothers were still worried about bringing their children to the posyandu. In addition, it was also found that at the time of implementing the posyandu there were still mothers who had not complied with the health protocols. This research is a descriptive study which aims to see the knowledge of mothers about the prevention of Covid-19 infection at the posyandu in Desa Kwala Bingei in 2020. The population of this study is all mothers who have toddlers and carry out posyandu with a total sample of 37 people. The results of the study found that the majority of respondents had less knowledge (65%) about the prevention of Covid-19 infection at the time of implementing the posyandu. From the results of this study, an activity in the form of health education to groups of mothers who have toddlers is needed which is related to increasing knowledge in preventing Covid-19 infection during the posyandu period, thereby reducing maternal anxiety of carrying posyandu children and posyandu activities to continue running smoothly according to health protocols.

Introduction: During the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the public may seek a non-pharmacological approach, such as dietary supplements, to prevent or manage COVID-19. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the use of dietary supplements during the COVID-19 pandemic among adults in Kota Kinabalu. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 213 adults living in Kota Kinabalu through convenient sampling from October 2021 to March 2022. A validated questionnaire was used to evaluate their perception on the use of dietary supplements, and the types of dietary supplements consumed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: One-hundred sixty-one (75.6%) adults reported that they were told to consume dietary supplements during the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily from close family members (64.0%) and social media (58.4%). One-hundred and thirty-two (62%) adults were consuming dietary supplements and 46 (34.8%) of them only started taking them during the COVID-19 pandemic. The reasons for taking dietary supplements during the COVID-19 pandemic included enhancing the immune system (83.6%) and for prevention of COVID-19 infection (64.4%). The most common dietary supplements consumed during the COVID-19 pandemic were vitamin C (90.2%), followed by multi-vitamin and mineral (32.6%), and fish oil (25.8%). After adjusting for age, sex, education level, and income level, KadazanDusun adults were most likely to consume dietary supplements (adjusted odds ratio = 2.369, 95% CI: 1.070 - 5.248, p=0.034). Conclusion: There was an increase in the number of adults consuming dietary supplements during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was likely driven by information sharing via family members and social media.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, community health center services were limited. It was critical to have health protocols as a reference for the prevention and control of COVID-19 infection during adaptation in the new normal in Bandung City. The purpose of this research was to determine the prevention and control of COVID-19 infection at community health center in the new normal. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted utilizing observation through questionnaire with chosen yes (if appropriate) or no (if not appropriate) based questions in checklist form. Inclusion criteria was active dentist in community health center and exclusion criteria dentist was not completely answer question in checklist form. Purposive sampling was used to choose 30 dentists for the research sample. Data analysis uses frequency distribution and is divided into four stages, which are: preparatory, pre-visit, visiting, post-visiting stage. Data analysis uses frequency distribution. Results: At the preparatory stage were appropriate: Air flow setting on average 50%; clean water management 100%; room arrangement and management 50%. At the pre-visit stage were appropriate: Management of tele-dentistry detection and screening average 67%; patient treatment scheduling management 100%. The visiting patient stages were appropriate: detection and screening during patient visit only measurement of patients body temperature 100%; The concept of four handed dentistry 43.3%; implementation of isolation precaution in dentist personal protective equipment average 92.2% and in transmission precaution average 85%. At the post visit patient stages were appropriate: cleaning the workplace average 85%; Medical equipment management 100%; Medical waste treatment average 87.7%. Conclusion: During adaptation of the new normal, the implementation of prevention and control of COVID-19 infection in dental and oral health services community health center is not in accordance with the protocol. Improvements are still needed on several stages.Keywords: Dentist, community health center, prevention and control of COVID-19 infection, new normal.

BackgroundLassitude and a rather high degree of mistrust toward the authorities can make regular or overly constraining COVID-19 infection prevention and control campaigns inefficient and even counterproductive. Serious games provide an original, engaging, and potentially effective way of disseminating COVID-19 infection prevention and control guidelines. Escape COVID-19 is a serious game for teaching COVID-19 infection prevention and control practices that has previously been validated in a population of nursing home personnel.ObjectiveWe aimed to identify factors learned from playing the serious game Escape COVID-19 that facilitate or impede intentions of changing infection prevention and control behavior in a large and heterogeneous Swiss population.MethodsThis fully automated, prospective web-based study, compliant with the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES), was conducted in all 3 main language regions of Switzerland. After creating an account on the platform, participants were asked to complete a short demographic questionnaire before accessing the serious game. The only incentive given to the potential participants was a course completion certificate, which participants obtained after completing the postgame questionnaire. The primary outcome was the proportion of participants who reported that they were willing to change their infection prevention and control behavior. Secondary outcomes were the infection prevention and control areas affected by this willingness and the presumed evolution in the use of specific personal protective equipment items. The elements associated with intention to change infection prevention and control behavior, or lack thereof, were also assessed. Other secondary outcomes were the subjective perceptions regarding length, difficulty, meaningfulness, and usefulness of the serious game; impression of engagement and boredom while playing the serious game; and willingness to recommend its use to friends or colleagues.ResultsFrom March 9 to June 9, 2021, a total of 3227 accounts were created on the platform, and 1104 participants (34.2%) completed the postgame questionnaire. Of the 1104 respondents, 509 respondents (46.1%) answered that they intended to change their infection prevention and control behavior after playing the game. Among the respondents who answered that they did not intend to change their behavior, 86.1% (512/595) answered that they already apply these guidelines. Participants who followed the German version were less likely to intend to change their infection prevention and control behavior (odds ratio [OR] 0.48, 95% CI 0.24-0.96; P=.04) and found the game less engaging (P<.001). Conversely, participants aged 53 years or older had stronger intentions of changing infection prevention and control behavior (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.44-2.97; P<.001).ConclusionsEscape COVID-19 is a useful tool to enhance correct infection prevention and control measures on a national scale, even after 2 COVID-19 pandemic waves; however, the serious game's impact was affected by language, age category, and previous educational training, and the game should be adapted to enhance its impact on specific populations.

The coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by Coronavirus is causing severe acute respiratory infections. The profession of dental health service workers must know the proper infection prevention and control. The profession of dental health care workers in low-middle-income countries is at odds with developed countries in facing the challenges of a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and infrastructure constraints. This study aims to determine infection prevention and control strategies in dental health service practices during the Covid-19 pandemic in lower middle countries. The method used in this paper is a systematic literature review method and is analyzed according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, carried out by reviewing journals traced from international databases published between 2019 and 2021. Researchers conducted a search for data sources from the Pubmed and Mendeley databases. Search for articles in 2019-2021. There are 20 journals that fall into the criteria. The results showed that during the Covid-19 pandemic, infection prevention and control measures were needed in dental service practices in middle- and lower-income countries. Dental treatment procedures should be carried out with cross infection prevention and control in accordance with procedures and guidelines such as; patient screening, pre-treatment, treatment, post-treatment, and prevention in the dental health service practice room Keywords: COVID-19, Dental, infection prevention and protection, middle- and lower-income countries.