Evaluation of Employees’ and Volunteers’ Food Safety Knowledge and Practices for Production, Packaging, Holding, and Delivery Stages in Home-Delivered Meal Service for the Elderly

Abstract

This study evaluated the food safety knowledge and practices of employees and volunteers involved in the production, packaging, holding, and delivery stages of home-delivered meal services for the elderly. A total of 135 employees and volunteers were surveyed at 27 senior welfare centers nationwide. A statistical data analysis was completed using the SPSS program for descriptive analysis and t-test. Of the respondents, volunteers and employees comprised 57.0%, and 43.0%, respectively. The total score for food safety knowledge was 11.02 out of 15 points. In the food safety knowledge area, the employees and volunteers scored 11.44 and 10.76 points, respectively, showing no significant difference between the two groups. In the category of food safety knowledge, there was a significant difference between workers and volunteers in the evaluation scores of 'food storage (P<0.05),' 'packaging (P<0.01),' and 'holding (P<0.05).' In terms of food safety practices, significant differences in the evaluation scores of 'personal hygiene (P<0.001),' 'food storage (P<0.05),' and 'production (P<0.001)' were observed between workers and volunteers. This study suggests that food safety education for volunteers participating in the entire process of home-delivery meals should be conducted continuously and repetitively. In particular, there is a need for intensive education of volunteers regarding knowledge and practices related to items that received low scores at each stage of the production, packaging, holding, and delivery processes in home-delivered meal services.