Food safety knowledge of food handlers working in hotel kitchens in Turkey

This study was aimed to examine the food safety knowledge of food handlers in hotels’ kitchen, to determine existing knowledge gaps in food safety, and to examine relationship between food safety knowledge and some sample characteristics such as gender, age, education level, professional experience, and past attendance to food safety training course. A total of 378 food handlers working in hotel kitchens, located at six different cities in Turkey, participated in the cross-sectional study. The food safety knowledge score of participants was average with 53.70%. Knowledge scores related the different food safety aspects including personal hygiene (53.60%), food hygiene (53.91%), cross contamination (61.13%), health problems that would affect food safety (52.14%), symptoms of foodborne illnesses (52.00%), HACCP (51.00%) and food allergy (50.89%) were found average level. The most striking result of this study is that although the number of employees receiving food safety training is considerably high (82.3%), the food safety knowledge score was found less than expected. When viewed from this aspect, this work is remarkable about examining into content and adequacy of food safety training in Turkey

___

Ajala, A.R., Cruz, A.G., Faria, J.A., Walter, E.H., Granato, D., Sant, A.S. (2010). Food allergens: Knowledge and practices of food handlers in restaurants. Food Control, 21(10), 1318-1321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2010.04.002

Arıkan, R. (2004). Araştırma teknikleri ve rapor hazırlama. Ankara: Asil Publishing. ISBN: 9789758784356 Assefa, T., Tasew, H., Wondafrash, B., Beker, J. (2015). Community medicine and health education assessment of bacterial hand contamination and associated factors among food handlers working in the student cafeterias of Jimma. Journal of Community Medicine and Health Education, 5(2), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.4172/2161-0711.1000345

Baser, F., Ture, H., Abubakirova, A., Sanlier, N., Cil, B. (2017). Structural modeling of the relationship among food safety knowledge, attitude and behavior of hotel staff in Turkey. Food Control, 73, 438-444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2016.08.032

Baş, M., Ersun, A.Ş., Kıvanç, G. (2006). The evaluation of food hygiene knowledge, attitudes, and practices of food handlers' in food businesses in Turkey. Food Control, 17(4), 317- 322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2004.11.006

Bolton, D.J., Meally, A., Blair, I.S., McDowell, D.A., Cowan, C. (2008). Food safety knowledge of head chefs and catering managers in Ireland. Food Control, 19(3), 291-300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2007.04.006

Cape, W., Marais, M., Conradie, N., Labadarios, D. (2007). Small and micro enterprises-aspects of knowledge, attitudes and practices of managers' and food handlers' knowledge of food safety in the proximity of Tygerberg Academic Hospital, Western Cape. South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 20(2), 50-61. https://doi.org/10.1080/16070658.2007.11734124

Çakıroğlu, F.P., Uçar, A. (2008). Employees' perception of hygiene in the catering industry in Ankara (Turkey). Food Control, 19(1), 9-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2007.01.001

Choi, J. H., Rajagopal, L. (2013). Food allergy knowledge, attitudes, practices, and training of foodservice workers at a university foodservice operation in the Midwestern United States. Food Control, 31(2), 474-481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2012.10.023

CDC (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the USA), (2018). Foodborne Illnesses and Germs, available at: https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/foodborne-germs.html/ (accessed 12 December 2018).

DeBess, E.E., Pippert, E., Angulo, F.J., Cieslak, P.R. (2009). Food handler assessment in Oregon. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, 6(3), 329-335. https://doi.org/10.1089/fpd.2008.0102

Doménech-Sánchez, A., Laso, E., Pérez, M.J., Berrocal, C.I. (2011). Microbiological levels of randomly selected food contact surfaces in hotels located in Spain during 2007-2009. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, 8(9), 1025-1029. https://doi.org/10.1089/fpd.2011.0856

Dupuis, R., Meisel, Z., Grande, D., Strupp, E., Kounaves, S., Graves, A., Frasso, R., Cannuscio, C.C. (2016). Food allergy management among restaurant workers in a large US city. Food Control, 63, 147-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2015.11.026

EAACI (The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology) (2017). available at: https://www.foodsmatter.com/allergy_intolerance/miscellaneous/research/allergy_statistics.02.11.html#tophttps://www.foodsmatter.com/allergy_intolerance/miscellaneous/research/allergy_statistics.02.11.html#top/ (access 12 September 2018).

Egan, M.B., Raats, M.M., Grubb, S.M., Eves, A., Lumbers, M.L., Dean, M.S., Adams, M.R. (2007). A review of food safety and food hygiene training studies in the commercial sector. Food Control, 18(10), 1180-1190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2006.08.001

ECDC (European Food Safety Authority and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) (2017). EU summary report on trends and sources of zoonoses, zoonotic agents and food-borne outbreaks in 2016. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2017.5077

FARE (Food Allergy Research and Education) (2017). Facts and statistics, available at: https://www.foodallergy.org/life-with-food-allergies/food-allergy-101/factsand-statistics (access 12 July 2018).

Giritlioglu, I., Batman, O., Tetik, N. (2011). The knowledge and practice of food safety and hygiene of cookery students in Turkey. Food Control, 22(6), 838-842. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2010.09.016

Gomes-Neves, E., Araújo, A.C., Ramos, E., Cardoso, C.S. (2007). Food handling: Comparative analysis of general knowledge and practice in three relevant groups in Portugal. Food Control, 18(6), 707-712. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2006.03.005

Jianu, C., Chiş, C. (2012). Study on the hygiene knowledge of food handlers working in small and medium-sized companies in western Romania. Food Control, 26(1), 151-156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2012.01.023

Kunadu, A.P.H., Ofosu, D.B., Aboagye, E., Tano-Debrah, K. (2016). Food safety knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practices of food handlers in institutional foodservice in Accra, Ghana. Food Control, 69, 324-330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2016.05.011

Martins, R.B., Hogg, T., Otero, J.G. (2012). Food handlers' knowledge on food hygiene: The case of a catering company in Portugal. Food Control, 23(1), 184-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2011.07.008

Mullan, B.A., Wong, C. Kothe, E.J. (2013). Predicting adolescents' safe food handling using an extended theory of planned behavior. Food Control, 31(2), 454-460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2012.10.027

Nee, S.O., Sani, N.A. (2011). Assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) among food handlers at residential colleges and canteen regarding food safety. Sains Malaysiana, 40(4), 403-410.

Osaili, T.M., Al-Nabulsi, A.A., Krasneh, H.D.A. (2018). Food safety knowledge among foodservice staff at the universities in Jordan. Food Control, 89, 167-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2018.02.011

Osaili, T.M., Obeidat, BA., Hajeer, W.A., Al-Nabulsi, A.A. (2017). Food safety knowledge among food service staff in hospitals in Jordan. Food Control, 78, 279-285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2017.02.057

Osaili, T.M., Obeidat, B.A., Jamous, D.O.A., Bawadi, H.A. (2011). Food safety knowledge and practices among college female students in north of Jordan. Food Control, 22(2), 269-276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2010.07.009

Sanlier, N., Cömert, M., Durlu‐Özkaya, F. (2010). Hygiene perception: Condition of hotel kitchen staffs in Ankara, Turkey. Journal of Food Safety, 30(2), 415-431. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-4565.2010.00216.x

Santos, J.R.A. (1999). Cronbach's alpha: A tool for assessing the reliability of scales. Journal of Extension, 37(2), 1-5.

Shafie, A.A., Azman, A.W. (2015). Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice of food allergies among food handlers in the state of Penang, Malaysia. Public Health, 129(9), 1278-1284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2015.03.016

Smigic, N., Djekic, I., Martins, M.L., Rocha, A., Sidiropoulou, N., Kalogianni, E.P. (2016). The level of food safety knowledge in food establishments in three European countries. Food Control, 63, 187-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2015.11.017

Soares, L.S., Almeida, R.C., Cerqueira, E.S., Carvalho, J.S., Nunes, I.L. (2012). Knowledge, attitudes and practices in food safety and the presence of coagulase-positive staphylococci on hands of food handlers in the schools of Camaçari, Brazil. Food Control, 27(1), 206-213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2012.03.016

Tan, S.L., Bakar, F.A., Karim, M.SA., Lee, H.Y., Mahyudin, N.A. (2013). Hand hygiene knowledge, attitudes and practices among food handlers at primary schools in Hulu Langat district, Selangor (Malaysia). Food Control, 34(2), 428-435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2013.04.045

Tokuç, B., Ekuklu, G., Berberoğlu, U., Bilge, E., Dedeler, H. (2009). Knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practices of food service staff regarding food hygiene in Edirne, Turkey. Food Control, 20(6), 565-568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2008.08.013

Todd, E.C., Greig, J.D., Bartleson, C.A., Michaels, B.S. (2007). Outbreaks where food workers have been implicated in the spread of foodborne disease. Part 2. Description of outbreaks by size, severity, and settings. Journal of Food Protection, 70(8), 1975-1993. https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X-70.8.1975

Todd, E.C., Greig, J.D., Bartleson, C.A., Michaels, B.S. (2008). Outbreaks where food workers have been implicated in the spread of foodborne disease. Part 5. Sources of contamination and pathogen excretion from infected persons. Journal of Food Protection, 71(12), 2582-2595. https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X-71.12.2582

Ulusoy, B., Çolakoğlu, N. (2015). A survey on determination of HACCP knowledge of food handlers in Istanbul food businesses. Acta Alimentaria, 44(3), 342-348. https://doi.org/10.1556/AAlim.2014.0011

USDA (The United States Department of Agriculture), (2017). Danger Zone (40°F-140°F), available at: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/shared/PDF/Danger_Zone.pdf (access 12 October 2018).

Walker, E., Pritchard, C., Forsythe, S. (2003). Food handlers' hygiene knowledge in small food businesses. Food Control, 14(5), 339-343. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0956-7135(02)00101-9

Webb, M., Morancie, A. (2015). Food safety knowledge of foodservice workers at a university campus by education level, experience, and food safety training. Food Control, 50, 259-264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2014.09.002