Food Safety Knowledge: The Case of Domestic Food Handlers in Accra.
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Date
2013-07
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Abstract
The Food safety knowledge of 608 respondents in Accra was assessed under five food
safety themes using a Likert-type scale questionnaire, and Mean Aggregate Score (MAS)
for each theme computed. Further, the Mean of the MAS was calculated and used as an
index of interpreting overall food safety knowledge of food handlers who participated in the
study. The themes considered in this study were “Concern” for food Safety, “Crosscontamination”,
“General and personal hygiene”, “Knowledge of pathogenic microbes” and
“Handling left-over food”. The relationship between respondents’ knowledge of food safety
and demographic characteristics was also explored. Some of the demographic factors that
were found to influence food safety knowledge significantly were education and age but
not gender. MAS ranged between 3.0 – 4.0 (Indifference – Agree) for “Crosscontamination”
and “Handling-leftover”, while the overall score for food safety knowledge
was 3.6, interpreted largely as Good on the scale adopted for the study. Generally,
however, respondents were well-informed in the areas of food safety concerns, general
and personal hygiene and handling leftover food but not, as far as cross-contamination
and pathogenic bacteria are concerned.
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Keywords
Food safety, likert-scale, pathogens, food handlers, knowledge
Citation
Akonor P T, Akonor M A. Food Safety Knowledge: The Case of Domestic Food Handlers in Accra. European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety. 2013 Jul-Sept; 3(3): 99-111.