POSITIVE KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF FEMALE DOMESTIC FOOD HANDLERS REGARDING PERSONAL HYGIENE

Abstract

Background: Contaminated food is an important cause of human morbidity and mortality. One of the risk factors of food contamination is poor personal hygiene of the food handler. The objective of the study was to assess the positive knowledge and practice regarding personal hygiene of domestic food handlers. Material & Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in Gomal Medical College, D.I.Khan from 1st Sep 2014 to 30th Dec 2014. A total of 100 respondents were chosen by purposive sampling technique. Data collecting tool was questionnaire. Our socio-demographic variables were age, education, income, residence and language. Our research variable was positive knowledge and practice, having attributes of hygiene of hands, personal attire, health of food handler and habits of respondents. SPSS version 20 was used for descriptive statistics. Data being categorical was expressed in frequency and percentages. Results: All the 100 respondents answered all the questions, so there was no missing data. The frequency of young age group was 46(46%), middle age 44(44%) & old age 10(10%). The frequency of literates was 76(76%) and illiterate 24(24%). The frequency of urban population was 82(82%)and rural 18(18%). Saraiki speaking were 65(65%), pushto speaking were 20(20%) and urdu speaking were 15(15%). Respondents of middle income status were 62(62%), 20(20%) were of low income status and 18(18%) were of high income status. The overall score of positive knowledge and practice about personal hygiene was 71% & 54.5% respectively. Conclusion: There is a gap between knowledge and practice of the female domestic food handlers.

Keywords

• hygiene
• food safety
• food borne diseases
• knowledge
• practice.