A cross-sectional study design to determine the prevalence of knowledge, attitude, and the preventive practice of food poisoning and its factors among postgraduate students in a public university in Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract

Objectives This study is designed to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice of food poisoning and its factors among postgraduate students in Universiti Putra Malaysia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 212 respondents who were selected through simple random sampling. Data was generated using a validated and reliable self-administered questionnaire. Results The majority of the respondents are male, aged less than 35 years old, non-Malaysian, single, first-degree holders, not working, received a monthly income of less than 3264 Malaysian Ringgit, aware of food poisoning outbreak and the sources of their information of the food poisoning outbreak were television, the internet, newspaper, Online journals, friends, Facebook, community, nurse, drinking raw milk for the second time, information from their parents, relatives, restaurant, and radio. Majority had previous history of food poisoning illness but didn’t correctly confirm the causes of their food poisoning illness. Majority had poor knowledge, acceptable attitude, and good practice of food poisoning. A significant association was observed for citizen, marital status, awareness of food poisoning outbreak, and previous history of food poisoning illness with knowledge. Gender and awareness of food poisoning outbreak were significantly associated with attitude. Attitude and practice were significantly associated. Logistic regression revealed that being married, awareness of food poisoning outbreak, and previous history of food poisoning illness are predictors for good knowledge. Female respondents and awareness of food poisoning outbreak are predictors for acceptable attitude. Conclusion Documentation of the identified poor knowledge and factors affecting knowledge, attitude, and practice provides essential information on the baseline indicators towards the risk of food poisoning among the respondents. A relevant interventional program is highly recommended to prevent the potential risks of food poisoning outbreak among them.

Health hazards awareness and fast food habits among university community in Suleimanyah, Iraq

“…Majority of the participants in the study, whether they are students or lecturers with various gender and age groups are aware of the health hazards that occur due to contaminated foods. Similar to other studies (Vidyashri et al 2021;Mshelia et al 2022), they believe that lack of hygienic rules in the restaurants and food processing factories are the main reason for food cross contamination with bacteria, which eventually results in food poisoning.…”

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Toward Food Safety Among Students in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Foodborne outbreaks occur associated with food prepared at and outside the home (Azanaw et al, 2021;Redmond et al, 2022). The lack of knowledge of food safety, poor personal hygiene, poor infrastructure, improper handling of food, unsafe water, poor conditions of producing and storing food, inadequate food safety laws, weak regulatory systems, and unsafe household preparation serve as the main factors to outbreaks of foodborne diseases in developing countries (Mshelia et al, 2022;Osaili et al, 2011;Sanlier & Konaklioglu, 2012;Sayuti et al, 2020).…”

“…There are many studies conducted in different countries, including Japan (Takeda et al, 2011), China (Luo et al, 2019b), Canada (Courtney et al, 2016), Lebanon (Hassan & Dimassi, 2014b), Malaysia (Mshelia et al, 2022), India (Rakshna et al, 2021), etc. that explored food safety knowledge, attitude, and practices of various student groups.…”

Recent Progress in Nanotechnology-Based Approaches for Food Monitoring

“…There are six types of microorganisms that can cause foodborne diseases: bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa, parasites, and prions. Major bacterial contaminations in foods and beverages are caused by the invasion of Escherichia coli , Bacillus cereus , Clostridium perfringens , Campylobacter , Salmonella , Staphylococcus aureus , and various types of vibrios, such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio cholera [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 ]. Dangerously, some bacteria can form biofilms, which are the complex ecosystem of one or more bacterial species immersed in an extracellular matrix, such as polysaccharides, proteins, or exogenous DNA.…”