Food safety knowledge, attitude and food handling practices of students

Abstract

PurposeThe number of reported food‐borne illnesses has increased recently in the world. In this respect, this study is carried out with the aim of investigating the food safety knowledge, attitude and food handling practices of university students in Turkey.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaires were applied to 1,340 people volunteered in the study, regarding their knowledge, attitude and practices. The research data was collected through a face‐to‐face questionnaire. An overall number of 1,340 university students from three different institutions were included in this study. Gender distribution was 54.6 per cent for male while that of female was 45.4 per cent, and age range was between 18‐24 years.FindingsDepending on the respondents' gender, a statistically significant difference was found between male and female participants on total food safety knowledge, attitude and practice scores (p<0.001). In addition, there was a statistically significant difference between students' institutes (p<0.001). Also, a correlation was found between food safety knowledge attitude and practice (p<0.001).Research limitations/implicationsBecause the population of this study consisted of university students from different faculties in the city of Ankara, the results cannot be generalized to all students or to all ages. Comment on the results is limited due to responses being self reported, which are prone to bias by the subjects.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, limited studies focused on university students have been found in the Turkish literature and there is a lack of study concerning food safety knowledge, attitude and practice of university students in Ankara, Turkey. The originality of this study is to assess the level of food safety attitude, knowledge and food handling practice to investigate the association between the students' institutions and gender among university students in Turkey. There is a need to assess the food safety knowledge, attitude and practice of this target group as they are more likely to engage in risky eating behaviors, thus are more susceptible to food‐borne illnesses and they are more likely to engage in risky food handling practices because of their future roles as parents and food preparers for his/her family.