Food Security Status and Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Micro and Small Enterprise Food Handlers in Selected Woredas of Lideta Sub - City, Addis Ababa
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Date
2020-08
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Micro and small enterprises are essential for creating jobs for low income groups. Food processing and
services are one of the sectors of MSE.The delivery and success of these services are inextricably tied with
the quality of food processing. This in turn is reflected by the knowledge, attitude and practice the food
handlers have. So, determining the level of KAP and assessing the work environment of the food handlers
could contribute in improving the service delivery and quality of this sector. Thus, the over all objective of
the study was to analyze the food security status and food safety KAP of MSE food handlers in five selected
woredas of Lideta Sub - City, Addis Ababa. Cross-sectional survey was done among the MSE food handlers
in the study area with a total sample size of, n=255 participants. Questionnaire was used to collect data
and data was collected from January through march. Purposive sampling technique was used to include
woredas with high number of MSE food handlers. The analysis was done using descriptive statistics and
chi-square was used to determinet significance of association between variables of interest. The results
show that about 22% of respondents were food secure, 45% mildly food insecure, 27% moderately food
insecure and 6% severely food insecure. The total food handling knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP)
of MSE food handlers were about 73%, 94% and 20%, respectively. The total personal hygiene KAP was
about 23%, 97% and 29%, respectively. Water and sanitation KAP were about 31%, 96% and 35%,
respectively. Most of respondents stated that there was no shower, unclean toilet, lack of hand washing
facilities in the work place. Generally, the result has shown relatively higher food handling knowledge.
However, poor knowledge and practice in but high positive attitude towards food safety issues. Poor
hygienic practices together with poor sanitary conditions in MSE food handlers can contribute to
occurrences of food borne illnesses and lack of customers which inturn leads to food insecurity. To improve
food safety KAP and food security status of MSE food handlers, providing appropriate training about food
safety and providing them with suitable working environment is of paramount importance.
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Keywords
Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Food Safety, Food Security