Effect of an Educational Program on Food Safety Practices in Food Preparation and Handling Procedures in Governmental Hospitals of an Egyptian Governorate

Abstract

Background & Objective(s): In hospitals, food borne diseases could be prevented if appropriate food safety measures are applied during food handling. The study aims to assess the food safety practices of food handlers in governmental hospitals of Gharbia Governorate and to design, implement and evaluate the effect of an intervention program on these practices. Methods: The study was conducted in all Ministry of Health and Population hospitals of Gharbia Governorate (n=17) among all food handlers (n=161) using a one group pre-test post-test intervention approach. Data were collected using an interviewing questionnaire and an observation checklist. A health education program was designed and implemented then practices of food handlers were reassessed using the same study tools. Results: Food handlers with scientific background related to nutrition and those working in general hospitals had higher significant odds of food handler practice score than relevant categories. Mutivariate logistic regression analysis shows that hospital type and scientific background were significant predictors for food hygiene practices score. Food handlers had more good and fair levels of practices post-intervention compared to pre-intervention. There were significant differences between both pre and post intervention practice scores. Conclusion:There is a significant effect of the intervention program on food safety practices of food handlers.

The Effect of Self Learning regarding Food –Borne Diseases on Knowledge and Practices of Primary School Teachers

“…In accordance with a study conducted in Egypt by Wahdan et al, (2019) who studied the effect of an educational program on food safety practices in food preparation and handling procedures and concluded that there were a significant improvement in the mean score of all food hygiene practices of the study participants between pre-and post-intervention scores. As well, Mohamed et al, (2020) who conducted a study about the effect of educational program to prevent foodborne diseases, reported improvement in values of the total mean scores relating to the food handlers' over all practices between 91.47 ± 3.45 before the intervention and 101.51 ± 6.85 after the intervention.…”

Microbial inspection of a Vietnamese hospital kitchen with reference to a Japanese hospital kitchen

“…Therefore, offering regular education to kitchen staff, in which the importance of food hygiene is emphasized, is vital. It has been previously demonstrated that, following food safety education, food handlers at a general hospital enhanced their knowledge of nutrition and positively improved their food handling practices (Wahdan, Gad, Habib, & Elshabasy, 2019).…”

Effectiveness of food safety and hygiene course for undergraduate students

“…There is a study showed that there was a significant improvement of all food hygiene practices following the intervention. The mean scores of all practices (hand hygiene, PPE, hygienic practices, cleaning of used equipment and utensils) showed a significant increase in the post intervention score (Wahdan et al, 2019).…”

“…In addition, ensuring good sources of food, proper inspection and storage, the most important practices that must be followed by food handlers during preparation and handling of food are: hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment (PPE) [clean coats, head covers, gloves and masks], sanitary practices during handling food and environmental measures including cleaning of equipment (Agyei-Baffour et al, 2013;Salam, 2015). Food safety education and training for food handlers is crucial in impacting their practices in food handling process and hence being fundamental in preventing Food borne diseases FBDs (Ngivu, 2016;Wahdan et al, 2019).…”