Food safety knowledge, practice and attitude of food handlers in Traditional hotels of jimma town, southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Food safety is prime impotent among all the aspects of human safety, this study was designed to assess the food safety knowledge, practice and attitude of the food handlers in the traditional hotels of the Jimma Town located in Oromia region of Ethiopia. A total of 112 respondents (food handlers) were selected randomly (112 hotels) to assess food safety knowledge, attitude and practices by semi-structured questionnaire. The responses were converted to the percentages depending on the respondent’s correct response for each statement. The results of this study showed that there is a gap of food safety knowledge in the study area. Particularly respondents were lack the knowledge about the microbiological information related to the foods and their pathogenicity and role in food born diseases. In food safety practice very less number of respondents was got good score (>70%), respondents are practicing some practices like handling food when suffering from the disease. In the attitude more number of the respondents got good score (>70%). But there is no significant relation between the demographical data and the food safety scores. Further, we are recommending that food safety training related to the microbiological issues is very important to improve the food safety knowledge, practice and attitude