A MIXED-METHOD STUDY TO ASSESS THE FOOD SAFETY IN RESTAURANTS IN TWO DISTRICTS OF KERALA, SOUTH INDIA
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Keywords
Food Safety; Knowledge; Attitude; Practices; Kerala.
Abstract
Background: One in ten people fall ill every year because of consuming unsafe food. Contaminated food contains harmful organisms like bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can cause more than 200 distinct illnesses which can range from diarrhea to cancer. Food handlers' hygiene, health, knowledge, and application of food safety directly impact the likelihood of food contamination. Some of the reasons why food becomes contaminated and unfit to eat are bacteria and the toxins they produce, food encountering contaminants from other surfaces, improper safeguarding techniques, unsanitary food handling procedures, and contamination from people who harbor the harmful microbes in their skin and nails. To prevent foodborne illnesses, food handlers must follow food safety guidelines. To dodge the potential hazards of consuming unsafe food, it is very important to understand and implement these food safety guidelines.
Methods: A cross-sectional mixed-method study was conducted among the food handlers in restaurants in Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram districts of Kerala state in south India, over a duration of six months, from January to June 2024. A two-stage random sampling method was employed.
Results: A total of 203 respondents from 151 restaurants participated in the assessment of their attitude, knowledge, and practice levels in safe food handling. More than three-fifths (60%) of the participants had a positive attitude, and more than half of the participants had sufficient knowledge (56.2%) and correct practice levels (50.2%) towards safe food handling.
Conclusion: The main challenges faced in restaurants included labor/staffing issues, waste management challenges, and competition from street food shops. This study highlighted that food safety training should be provided for the younger and inexperienced food handlers.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All articles published in JPTCP are licensed under Copyright Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Dr. Unnineeli Nair
Second Year MPH Student, Department of Health Policy, Prasanna School of Public Health, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
Dr. Prakash Narayanan
Professor, Department of Health Policy, Prasanna School of Public Health, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India.