Food safety training and evaluation of handwashing intention among fresh produce farm workers

Abstract

Food safety training is mainly focused towards food service establishments. Therefore, this paper aims to develop food safety educational and training materials for fresh produce farm workers. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model was used to investigate handwashing intentions among fresh produce farm workers. The findings in this study showed an immediate increase in knowledge gained between pre- and post-training, suggesting that the educational and training programme was successful in improving food safety knowledge of participants. The overall farm food safety knowledge gain was significant at t(41) = −6.95, p < 0.001. Generally, all the participants preferred the You Tube video and hand hygiene demonstration, reiterating the fact that practical and hands-on sessions will create a much more vivid experience for workers. The TPB has provided a useful framework for understanding fresh produce farm workers’ adherence to hand hygiene practices where the multiple regression model explained approximately 57% of the variance in handwashing intention (p < 0.001). Furthermore, perceived behavioural control was identified as the significant predictor of handwashing intention (p < 0.001). This suggests that participants were more likely to wash hands before harvesting or packing fresh produce when they perceived fewer barriers to wash hands. The findings here also suggest that for handwashing behaviour, intention is not considered to be wholly within the fresh produce farm workers’ control as the working environment is different from a food service establishment which have easier access to handwashing facilities and potable water at all times.