Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Among Food Handlers in Kirkuk City Hospitals, Iraq

Abstract

Introduction: Food safety and hygiene remains one of the important public health issues. In hospitals, poor food handling by food handlers during food preparation has been linked to many incidences of foodborne disease or food poisoning. This study assesses food handlers’ food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practises at Kirkuk city hospitals in Iraq. Method: Fifty food handlers from three hospitals in Kirkuk’s city centre were asked to complete a four-part questionnaire. Results: Results revealed that most respondents had a fair understanding of food safety, with the highest pass rate of 96% for knowledge of hand washing, 90% for knowledge of foodborne illness symptoms, and 80% for knowledge of cross-contamination. In regard to attitudes, 56% of participants had fair attitudes toward food safety, with highest marks observed for attitudes toward wearing gloves, masks, and head caps (90%), followed by cooking habits (90%). Food safety practises were also observed with 98% participants receiving a fair level of practice in terms of food safety hygiene. Spearman rho coefficient revealed a statistically significant weak positive correlation between knowledge and attitude scores (r = 0.304, P = 0.032). Conclusion: This study highlighted the important need for specific food safety education and training programmes to enhance food safety and practices understanding among hospital food handlers in Iraq.