Food safety profile of university food handlers in Bangladesh: A multicenter cross-sectional study

Abstract

The current study aimed to explore the food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices of university food handlers in Bangladesh. To achieve this goal, a cross-sectional study was formulated to be carried out among food handlers at different public universities. Data collection was conducted through face-to-face interviews utilizing a structured questionnaire. A total of 788 food handlers participated in the study and were considered for performing all the statistical analyses (descriptive statistics, MannWhitney U test, KruskalWallis H test, multiple logistic regression, and Spearman rankorder correlation). According to the study findings, almost 20.7 % of food handlers lacked formal education, and only 22.8 % had participated in food safety training. Approximately 31.5 % and 28.4 % of the food handlers had good knowledge and good practices, respectively. The majority of the food handlers had poor knowledge about foodborne diseases and foodborne pathogens. Most food handlers had poor hand hygiene practices. Almost all food handlers did not wear caps, gloves, aprons, or masks while handling food. However, despite of having poor knowledge and practices, food handlers (69.8 %) had comparatively good attitudes toward food safety practices, which indicates that adequate support and motivation from food safety authorities can significantly improve preventive practices among them. Therefore, it is recommended that food safety authorities accelerate their activities and arrange hand-based training and educational programs for food handlers to enhance food safety knowledge and practices.