Food safety is an alarming issue now a days in Pakistan as many food borne illnesses, diseases and spoilage of food occur due to poor knowledge, attitude and practices of food handlers about food safety and hygiene. Food safety is a scientific discipline describing preparation, handling and storage of food in different ways to prevent food borne illness.
In the present study the cross sectional survey of 500 food handlers of the department of Punjab Police district Lahore was conducted to evaluate current food safety knowledge, attitude and practices adopted by them. The evaluation was done by using modified questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of food safety knowledge, attitude and practices among food handlers.SPSS version 20.0 was used for all data analyses. Descriptive statistics including frequencies percentages were calculated for all variables as appropriate.
Results of study, conducted among food handlers working in the department of Punjab Police district Lahore showed that the ages of the respondents interviewed ranged from 18-55 years in which most of the food handlers 70.2% were categorized in 18-30 year age group, 17.4% in 30-42 years and 12.4%in ≥42 years age group. Data about educational level showed that 68.6% were uneducated,19.6% primary pass and 5.8% middle passed, 3.8% were matriculates, and 2.2% were intermediate passed. Data regarding job responsibility showed that 28.2% were cook, 49.6% service man, 10% tea maker, 3.4% juice/shake maker, 5.2% chapatti maker, 3.6% burger/sandwich maker. Data about working experience 11.8% were <1 year experienced, 18.4% were 1-3 year experienced, and 69.8% were >3 year experienced.Data about health card showed that 74.2% were having health cards while 25.8% were having no health card. It was also observed in the study conducted that employees who were having their education intermediate have better knowledge of personal hygiene as compared to those workers that are lesser educated.
Using of gloves is mainly influenced by employees’ ages where younger workers seem to be more interested in stopping risk practices compared with older workers.On other hand the vast majority of the food handlers do not adhere to hand washing as a practice, which significantly influences the food hygiene and safety. There is no agency or organization to teach, train and supervise the food handlers in Punjab Police.In the present study food handlers are not conscious about health due to poor knowledge of food safety because they want to earn to support their family so they don’t care either they are ill or suffering from any disease.They do not want to learn about food safety and hygienic practices through trainings and even do not want to have their medical because they are government employer.
Food handlers in our study demonstrated an extremely low level of knowledge concerning adequate temperatures needed for cooking hamburger or ground meat and for holding potentially hazardous hot and cold foods.Knowledge regarding cross contamination through finger nails, beard, knife, cutting board, through raw foods, unwashed hands, food contact surfaces showed that the employees who were more educated had more knowledge of cross contamination as compared to the other employees and similarly the food handlers with greater experience had comparatively more understanding of cross contamination as compared to the one with lesser experience.
Educating, training and promoting positive attitude of food handlers would improve the status of food hygiene knowledge, attitudes and practices. Research is needed to focus on how to change the culture and behavior of the food handlers, and to improve their adherence and compliance with hand washing. The study highlighted the situation of current food safety knowledge, attitude and practices among food handlers in the department of Punjab Police district Lahore. Food safety and personal hygiene training are means of improving food safety and awareness of food safety among food handlers to prevent foodborne diseases and to minimize the health consequences associated with the consumption of unsafe foods in Pakistan.