Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among food handlers on food borne diseases: A hospital based study in tertiary care hospital.

Abstract

Background: Food handlers play an important role in ensuring food safety throughout the chain of production, processing, storage and preparation.Staphylococcus aureus infections used to respond to lactam and related group of antibiotics but the emergence of Methicillin-resistant S. Aureus (MRSA) has posed a serious therapeutic challenge. Objectives: To assess the food hygiene Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) among the food handlers. Method and material: In this hospital based cross sectional study, subjects were all 60 food handlers working in three canteens. This study was performed for the period of four months in June to September 2013. The data was obtained by the predesigned proforma. The swabs form nose, both axilla and both hands were taken. Also stool samples from all cases were obtained with the consent of the study subjects. Results: The study was conducted in 60 food handlers of which were 22 males and 38 females. Wearing the gloves and other protective cover usage was very rare among them. But majority of them know about the usage of the protective covers but not practicing this hygiene. Conclusion: The hygiene and the cleanliness practiced by the food handlers were satisfactory. However there is need to increase the hygiene level of food handlers and environmental premises.