Abstract:
Background: Nowadays, food hygiene has become an issue of global attention due to its high
impact on human health as well as its adverse effects on socioeconomic productivity. It is
important to recognize the worth of food handlers’ hygienic practices at food establishments in
order to achieve community health. However, little is known about hygiene practices of food
handlers and the factors associated with in the study area.
Objective: This study aimed to assess food hygiene practices and associated factors among food
handlers working in food establishments in Jimma City, Southwest Ethiopia.
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted using a simple random
sampling technique to select a total of 316 food handlers. Food hygiene practice and relevant
features were collected from May to June, 2023 through interviews using a semi-structured
questionnaire. After the interviews hand swabs were collected to isolate of selected bacteria and
immediately transferred to the microbiology lab for laboratory examinations. The swab samples
were cultured and identified using standard operating procedures. The data were entered into Epi
data and exported to SPSS (Statistics 29, Amos 26) for further analysis. Binary logistic regression
was then used, with a p-value ≤ 0.05 considered as an associated factor.
Results: The results showed that only 28.4% of study participants had good food hygiene
practices. Similarly, laboratory analysis displayed that 45.1% of study subjects tested positive for
one or more bacterial contaminations. This also indicates that the majority of food handlers did
not follow safe food handling practices. Determinant factors of food hygiene practices were: their
role as waiter (AOR=0.48,95%CI:0.23,0.99), the type of food establishment(bar and restaurant)
(AOR = 0.37, 95% CI:0.15,0.88) and snack houses (AOR = 0.16, 95%CI:0.06,0.44), being
negative for isolated bacteria (AOR = 2.95,95% CI:1.42,6.13), having a positive attitude (AOR =
2.32,95% CI :1.13,4.73) and having good knowledge (AOR = 8.23,95% CI:4.03,16.78) toward
food hygiene. Moreover, the commitment of participants and communication among management
constructs positively and significantly affect food handlers’ hygiene practice in food
establishments.
Conclusion: The majority (71.6%) of food handlers’ hygiene practices were poor in the current
study. Food establishments should be concerned about their employee’s food hygiene through health
education and effective management practices such as maintaining better communication and
having committed food handlers in order to improve good hygienic practices.
