Food safety knowledge and awareness among stakeholders of the online-fooddelivery system in Depok City Indonesia

Abstract

The online food delivery (OFD) is known to be a fast-growing business in Indonesia, with the largest platforms, namely GoFood and GrabFood. Hence, the level of knowledge and awareness of the stakeholders, including restaurants, delivery partners, and customers on the safety of the ready-to-eat food is important to ensure that the delivery does not rise a potential health hazard. This study aimed to determine the factors affecting the delivery process of ready-to-eat food, via the OFD system, in terms of educational backgrounds, experience, implementation of regulations, as well as knowledge and awareness of safety among the stakeholders. The research location was Depok, a growing city nearby Jakarta, which is known to support the growth of OFD, with a relatively dense population, sufficient internet network, educational level, and employed individuals. The survey was conducted in regard to hot soup and fried/grilled food restaurants, delivery partners, and customers that are members of GoFood and GrabFood, with 110 respondents from each group. The results presented an overview of the OFD system during the COVID-19 pandemic since it was conducted between December 2020 to March 2021. The food safety knowledge profile of the stakeholders in regard to OFD was relatively good. This knowledge was not significantly affected by educational background, experience, training, or practical monitoring. However, their food safety awareness still needs to be improved. It is further suggested that the visitation frequency to restaurants by the local health authority should be increased, the hygiene monitoring team should be reporting via application, regular inspection by the delivery partners, and organizing food safety campaigns for the customers. This study also showed that there are significant differences between food safety knowledge and awareness among the stakeholders. This condition should be mitigated by improving safety awareness, during the process of OFD, involving continuous training delivery partners, consistent visitation of the OFD provider, the improvement of system and facilities, provision of a special container, and promoting the usage.