Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices on Regulatory Food Hygiene and Safety Requirements among Cake and Ice-cream Manufacturers and Workers and Trends of Regulatory Measures in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Date
2021-12
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background: Poor knowledge, attitude and practices of hygiene can contribute to the outbreaks of
food borne illness. Most foods, including cake and ice cream products, could be affected by food
borne pathogens, mainly due to poor hygienic conditions and inappropriate food handling practices.
Inadequate knowledge, negative attitude and poor practices on food hygiene and weak regulation
practices are among the factors responsible for the occurrence of poor hygienic conditions and
inappropriate food handling practices.
Objective: To assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice on regulatory food hygiene and
safety requirements among cake and ice-cream workers and trend of regulatory measures in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia.
Methods: For knowledge, attitude and practices of workers assessment, a cross-sectional survey
was conducted in purposely selected 5 sub cities and 108 manufacturers. 236 workers were selected
by simple random sampling technique and interviewed using structured questionnaire. For the
assessment of trends of regulatory measures, data were collected from 10 inspection team leaders (9
sub cities' food medicine and health care administration office and one Addis Ababa food medicine
and health care administration authority) using a structured questionnaire. Data was entered using
EPI info version 7.2 and cleaning and analysis was performed by using SPSS version 25.
Result: The mean age and work experience of workers in the cake and ice-cream manufacturing
companies were 30.03 and 5.72, respectively. About 46.6 % (110) of participants had no formal
education. Only 2.5% of participant's field of study was related to their job.72.9 %, 37.3% and
59.3% of participants had poor knowledge, attitude and practice level about food hygiene and
safety regulatory requirements, respectively. The total measure taken by the regulatory bodies on
non complaints of requirements was 129 and 99 by 1
st
and 2
nd
half year of 2019, respectively. It
was also 115 and 128 by the 1
st
and 2
nd
half years of 2020, respectively. Warning, lockdown and
withdrawal from work were the major regulatory measures taken by the regulatory bodies.
Conclusion/recommendation: Most workers do have poor knowledge and practice towards food
hygiene and safety regulatory parameters. Though most of the workers knew the importance of
hand washing practices, practically they were not complying. In contrast to the knowledge level,
overall, more than half of the participants had good level of attitude towards food hygiene and
safety regulatory requirements. The overall level of food hygiene and safety regulatory practices
was poor. Though the sum total practice level was poor, the majority of them were also good at
some specific requirements. The present study also pointed out that most of the regulatory measures
taken by the regulation bodies on non-fulfillment were simple type of measures like warning.
Description
Keywords
Food hygiene ,Safety