Food safety knowledge: the case of domestic food handlers in Accra

Abstract

The Food safety knowledge of 608 respondents in Accra was assessed under five food safety themes using a Likert-type scale questionnaire, and Mean Aggregate Score (MAS) for each theme computed. Further, the Mean of the MAS was calculated and used as an index of interpreting overall food safety knowledge of food handlers who participated in the study. The themes considered in this study were “Concern” for food Safety, “Crosscontamination”, “General and personal hygiene”, “Knowledge of pathogenic microbes” and “Handling left-over food”. The relationship between respondents’ knowledge of food safety and demographic characteristics was also explored. Some of the demographic factors that were found to influence food safety knowledge significantly were education and age but not gender. MAS ranged between 3.0 – 4.0 (Indifference – Agree) for “Crosscontamination” and “Handling-leftover”, while the overall score for food safety knowledge was 3.6, interpreted largely as Good on the scale adopted for the study. Generally, however, respondents were well-informed in the areas of food safety concerns, general and personal hygiene and handling leftover food but not, as far as cross-contamination and pathogenic bacteria are concerned