المستخلص: |
Introduction: Hygiene practices among food handlers has gained considerable importance in each step of the food chain from production to preparation and serving of the food since nutritional habits have changed and out of house food consumption has increased due to the living and working conditions of today’s world. Objective: This study was conducted to investigate hygienic practices of food handlers in restaurants of Al-nohod locality market-2017. Research methodology: This was community based cross sectional study which covered 34 restaurants and 40 food handlers (cookers) with 100% response rate. The data were collected in October 2016, by using standardized administrated questionnaire composed of 36 close-ended questions. Data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. Results: The personal hygienic practices among 40 food handlers was poor, 62.5% of participants had medical fitness card, but 25.5 % of them were not referred to medical examination, neither training in personal hygiene among the study workers has been noticed nor usage of hand gloves. 60% of the study participants and these included Haimet/hat 10%, apron 50%. While only male participants have protective personal clothing 57% and highly significant difference (P-value = 0.000) between gender and having protective personal clothing. Conclusion: The study identified that the personal hygienic practices were poor among food handlers. Basic training in personal, hygiene is needed for food handlers. This is to ensure that they follow the required rules for proper hygiene and sanitation.
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