Department of Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Sports, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.
Department of Health Care Administration, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
BMC Public Health. 2019 Mar 27;19(1):344. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-6669-5.
Food safety control in Myanmar is regulated by the Department of Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA conducts food safety education programs in schools and regular market surveys of foods containing prohibited artificial colors. However, the consumption of foods containing FDA-prohibited artificial colors among school children is understudied. This study aimed to assess the consumption of foods containing FDA-prohibited artificial colors among middle-school children in Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory, Myanmar.
A cross-sectional study was conducted at eight public schools in Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory in 2017. The schools were selected using simple random sampling with a drawing method. In total, 776 students (359 boys and 417 girls) participated in face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire and photos of foods containing artificial color published by FDA. A multiple logistic regression was performed to estimate adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for consumption of such foods.
In total, 519 (66.9%) children consumed foods with the FDA-prohibited colors. It was revealed that students at suburban schools were nearly five times more likely to consume foods containing FDA-prohibited artificial colors (AOR = 4.84; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.99-7.82) compared to those at urban schools. In addition, being in the seventh grade (AOR = 3.38; 95% CI 2.30-4.98), availability of prohibited food in school canteen (AOR = 6.16; 95% CI 2.67-14.22), and having a less educated father (AOR = 1.76; 95% CI 1.06-2.92) were positively associated with consumption of the foods with the prohibited colors.
More than half of the students consumed foods with the prohibited colors. Consumption was more frequent among students from suburban schools, those with unsafe foods accessible at their school canteen, seventh graders, and students with a less educated father. The findings highlighted that school food safety programs, which focus on preventing consumption of foods containing FDA-prohibited artificial colors, are urgently required. Food safety regulation is also required to ban the sale of unsafe food, especially in school canteens.
缅甸的食品安全由食品和药物管理局（FDA）监管。FDA 在学校开展食品安全教育计划，并定期对含有违禁人工色素的食品进行市场调查。然而，对于在校儿童食用含有 FDA 禁用人工色素的食品的情况研究甚少。本研究旨在评估缅甸内比都特区中学生食用含有 FDA 禁用人工色素的食品的情况。
2017 年在内比都特区的八所公立学校进行了一项横断面研究。采用抽签法进行简单随机抽样选择学校。共有 776 名学生（359 名男生和 417 名女生）参与了面对面访谈，使用的工具是 FDA 公布的含有人工色素的食品照片和结构化问卷。采用多因素 logistic 回归分析来估计食用此类食品的调整比值比（AOR）。
共有 519 名（66.9%）儿童食用了含 FDA 禁用色素的食品。研究结果表明，与城市学校的学生相比，来自郊区学校的学生食用含有 FDA 禁用人工色素的食品的可能性几乎高出五倍（AOR=4.84；95%置信区间（CI）为 2.99-7.82）。此外，处于七年级（AOR=3.38；95%CI 为 2.30-4.98）、学校食堂有违禁食品（AOR=6.16；95%CI 为 2.67-14.22）和父亲受教育程度较低（AOR=1.76；95%CI 为 1.06-2.92）与食用含禁用色素的食品呈正相关。
超过一半的学生食用了含禁用色素的食品。来自郊区学校、学校食堂有不安全食品、七年级学生以及父亲受教育程度较低的学生更频繁地食用含禁用色素的食品。研究结果强调，迫切需要开展学校食品安全计划，以防止食用含有 FDA 禁用人工色素的食品。还需要进行食品安全监管，禁止销售不安全食品，尤其是在学校食堂。
