Investigation of food safety knowledge, attitude and practice (K.A.P) of food service workers in Trinidad and Saint Kitts.

Transcription

1 Investigation of food safety knowledge, attitude and practice (K.A.P) of food service workers in Trinidad and Saint Kitts. I Francis-Granderson,PhD, 1 V Martina, PHNtr, 2 C Copeland, MA, 3 M Dowrich, 4 M. Webb,PhD, 5

2 Acknowledgement This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada, and with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency.

3 Research Objective To determine the level of food safety and nutrition: knowledge, attitudes and practices of food service workers contracted by selected National School Dietary Services Limited (NSDSL) kitchens in Trinidad and the School Meals Centre (SMC) in St. Kitts.

4 Background Information Food borne illnesses: Infectious or toxic diseases caused by agents that enter the body via the ingestion of food. Half of the reported cases occur in children. Children are considered high risk group (American Academy of Pediatrics).

5 Background Information Reports of Food borne illnesses: - United States: - 76 million cases each year resulting in 5000 deaths. - Caribbean: - 42,973 reported cases ( )

6 Methodology Cross-sectional study Purposive sampling Sample : Satellite Kitchens (Trinidad) Central Kitchen ( St. Kitts) Instrument: Structured questionnaire, selfadministered.

7 Results Striking Descriptive Statistics 13.3% reported that regular washing of hands is not worth the extra time 6.3% disagreed that washing hands before touching unwrapped raw foods was important 3.1% of participants responded that they never washed hands before touching unwrapped raw foods was important.

8 Results Food Safety Knowledge in Percentage Trinidad St. Kitts Keeping it clean a. Washing hands is an important step before handling food b. Wearing gloves while handling food minimizes risk of transmitting infection. c. Microorganisms (germs) are likely to be spread when using a wiping cloth Food separation a. Raw foods must be separated from cooked foods. b. The same utensils can be used for raw and cooked foods if it looks clean. Cooking- feeling the heat a. Reheating cooked foods thoroughly is not necessary. b. Proper cooking includes meat cooked to 40 o C/ 104 o F. What does the Thermometer say? a. The correct temperature for a refrigerator is 20 o C/ 68 o F. b. Hot ready to eat foods should be maintained at 37 o C/ 98.6 o F. c. Cold ready to eat foods should be maintained at 8 o C/ 46.4 o F. Safe raw materials a. Safe water can be identified by taste. b. Safe water can be identified by looks. c. Fruits, vegetables and ground provision must be washed

9 Results Nutrition Knowledge in Percentage Trinidad Saint Kitts Five C'bean food groups Balanced diet-eat from all groups Bread, rice and pumpkin-staple group Split peas, channa, lentil peas and nuts-legumes Banana, mango and portugal-vegetable Beef, milk, fish and eggs- FFA Butter, oil, salted margarine, salad dressing-fats and oils Milk-rich in calcium Beets and Green banana-rich in iron Orange, Portugal, lemon-rich in Vit C Liver-rich in Iron Dasheen, brown rice, ww bread, guava, lentils-good fibre source Healthy body wt-eat right, physically active Fast foods-high in fat, salt Breakfast-energy throughout morning Food labels-healthy choices 97 97

10 Results Country Mean Nutrition_Knowledge Trinidad St Kitts Food_Safety_Knowledge Trinidad St Kitts Nutrition_Attitude Trinidad St Kitts Food_Safety_Attitude Trinidad St Kitts Nutrition_Practice Trinidad St Kitts Food_Safety_Practice Trinidad St Kitts Knowledge Trinidad St Kitts Practice Trinidad St Kitts Food_Safety Trinidad St Kitts Nutrition Trinidad St Kitts Table 1: Mean Score comparisons between Trinidad and St. Kitts.

11 Results Country Mean Nutrition_Knowledge Temporary Permanent Food_Safety_Knowledge Temporary Permanent Nutrition_Attitude Temporary Permanent Food_Safety_Attitude Temporary Permanent Nutrition_Practice Temporary Permanent Food_Safety_Practice Temporary Permanent Knowledge Temporary Permanent Practice Temporary Permanent Food_Safety Temporary Permanent Nutrition Temporary Permanent Table 1: Mean Score comparisons between Temporary and Permanent Staff.

12 Results Pearson Correlations: A positive relationship was noted between the participants Overall Practice and Overall Knowledge score (r=.866, p=0). Negative relationships between Food Safety Knowledge and Nutrition Knowledge (r= -.542, p=0); Nutrition Practice (r= -.393, p=.02); and Overall Nutrition (r= -.516, p=0).

13 Conclusion The promotion of nutrition knowledge can lead to changes in nutrition attitudes which can lead to improvements of overall diets among persons.

14 References The WHO Food safety and food borne illness: Fact sheet no. 237, last reviewed March Accessed on July 23 rd Available at: The WHO Safe and nutritious food is a prerequisite for health: Strategic objective 9 Azizi, M., Aghaee, N., Ebrahimi, M., & Ranjbar Nutrition knowledge, the attitude and practices of college students. Journal of Physical Education and Sport 9:

15 ThankYou