Food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices among food handlers in Yumbe Town Council, Yumbe District, Uganda

Abstract

Food safety is an important public health issue given that it can lead to food-borne illnesses and disease outbreaks. Food borne illnesses occur as a result of consumption of contaminated foods, which may be due to a variety of factors such as inadequate knowledge on food safety and poor food handling practices among food handlers. This therefore makes food handlers essential in ensuring that the food prepared and served to the public is free from contamination. Therefore, this study assessed food handlers’ knowledge, attitudes and practices concerning food safety in order to obtain a better understanding of their behaviours and identify areas that need improvement. Methodology A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among food handlers in Yumbe Town Council, Yumbe District. A sample size of 101 participants was employed and data were collected during face-to-face interviews using structured questionnaire embedded in Kobo collect application then exported to STATA 14 software for analysis. The results were then presented in form of frequencies, percentages, tables, pie charts and graphs. Results A total of 101 food handlers participated in the study. The majority of the participants were aged between 18 and 35 years 86 (85.2%) and were females 84 (83.2%). All participants 101 (100%) had ever heard about foodborne diseases. All participants reported washing their hands after visiting the latrine 101 (100%). The majority of the participants reported washing hands with soap and water before, during, and after handling food 88 (87.1%). Conclusion The findings show that the food handlers had high levels of knowledge which was displayed when all food handlers had ever heard about food-borne diseases, negative attitudes displayed when the food handlers believed that frequent handwashing during food preparation wastes time and good practices such as washing hands with clean water and soap before, during and after handling food. This therefore, signals the need for increased sensitization of food handlers by Yumbe public health department and close supervision by food establishment owners so as to enable them improve their attitudes towards food safety and ensure reduced incidence of foodborne illnesses.