Evaluation of Food Handling Practices Before, During and After Preparation Among Food Vendors in Ilorin Kwara State
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Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Health Sciences, Al-Hikman University, Ilorin
Abstract
Food is an important basic necessity that provides nutrient and energy for growth and
development of humans. Food handlers play a crucial role in ensuring food hygiene
as well as the transmission of food poisoning. This study was aimed at assessing
knowledge, practices of food handling and identify the associated factors for safe
food handling among selected food handlers in GRA Ilorin. A cross sectional
descriptive study was carried out on 191 food handlers that met the inclusion criteria.
Data was collected using a pre tested questionnaires with the aid of research assistants
and analyzed using SPSS version 28.0. The majority of food handlers were aged 25
to 35 years. 85% of food handlers had acceptable knowledge about food hygiene but
good practice was practiced by very few handlers. 50.3% did not keep the work
surface clean and disinfected, 25.7% dried dishes with their aprons, 47.1% cooked
meat for 45 minutes, 39.8% did not wash vegetables before cooking, 48.7% had long
nails and 40.3% continue to work even though they had an infectious disease like
flue. The knowledge and attitude about food hygiene was good amongst food
handlers but the practice of food hygiene was only fair. Direct observation of hygiene
practices observation amongst these handlers revealed that most of them dried their
hands with their aprons after washing them. The responsible authority should
therefore continuously inspect these restaurants and set up safety precautions to
protect the public
Description
Keywords
Evaluation Food Handling Practices Preparation Food Vendors
Citation
Please cite this article as Olubiyi, S. K., Ibrahim, T. J., Umar, N. J., Anyebe, E. E. Olubiyi, I. J., Lawal, A. S., Canis, I., Omotoriogun, M., Kayode, O. O. (2022). Evaluation of Food Handling Practices Before, During and After Preparation Among Food Vendors in Ilorin Kwara State. Al-Hikmah Journal of Health Sciences, 2(1): 20- 26.