Yenealem Dawit Getachew, Yallew Walelegn Worku, Abdulmajid Shafi
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
Department of Public Health, Eastern African Collage, Harrar Campus, Harrar, Ethiopia.
J Environ Public Health. 2020 Feb 24;2020:7421745. doi: 10.1155/2020/7421745. eCollection 2020.
. Animal sources of foods (ASF), including meat, are a source of high-quality nutrients. However, meat composition makes it an ideal medium for the growth of a good number of microorganisms. Around 600 million foodborne illnesses and 420000 deaths occur each year due to poor food handling practice. Thus, probing into meat handling practice will be an insatiable input for the intervention. This study aims to investigate the level of meat handling practice and associated factors among meat handlers in butcheries in Gondar town, Ethiopia.
The study was a community-based cross-sectional study among butcher shops in Gondar town from April 20 to 30, 2019. Data were collected using a pretested structured questionnaire by trained data collectors among 214 meat handlers from butcher shops. Multivariable logistic regression analysis with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to identify the factors significantly associated with a good level of meat handling practice.
More than half of the meat handlers 66.4% (95% CI: (59.8, 72.4)) in butcher shops had a good level of meat handling practice. Level of attitude (AOR = 4.45; 95% CI, 2.09-9.43) and knowledge (AOR = 2.04; 95% CI, 1.09-3.82) were significantly associated with a good level of meat handling practice. The majority of respondents wash their hands after disposing garbage (91.6%) with less vigilance after smoking, sneezing, or coughing (64.0%).
The study revealed that the level of food handling practice was unsatisfactory among meat handlers. This result is a testimony to the prevailing potential risk faced by consumers due to the disregarding of hygienic behaviors by food handlers. Considering attitude and knowledge are associated with the outcome variable, investing time on behavioral change activities that will contribute to the improvement of meat handler's attitude & practice, primarily focusing on reducing working while ill is essential. Therefore, much supervisory and coaching work will be expected from local health departments & regulatory bodies.
包括肉类在内的动物性食物来源（ASF）是优质营养素的来源。然而，肉类的成分使其成为许多微生物生长的理想媒介。由于食品处理不当，每年约有6亿例食源性疾病和42万例死亡。因此，探究肉类处理做法将为干预措施提供源源不断的依据。本研究旨在调查埃塞俄比亚贡德尔镇肉铺肉类处理人员的肉类处理水平及相关因素。
该研究是一项于2019年4月20日至30日在贡德尔镇肉铺开展的基于社区的横断面研究。由经过培训的数据收集人员使用预先测试的结构化问卷，从肉铺的214名肉类处理人员中收集数据。采用95%置信区间（CI）的多变量逻辑回归分析来确定与良好肉类处理水平显著相关的因素。
肉铺中超过一半的肉类处理人员66.4%（95%CI：（59.8，72.4））具有良好的肉类处理水平。态度水平（优势比[AOR]=4.45；95%CI，2.09 - 9.43）和知识水平（AOR = 2.04；95%CI，1.09 - 3.82）与良好的肉类处理水平显著相关。大多数受访者在处理垃圾后洗手（91.6%），而在吸烟、打喷嚏或咳嗽后洗手的警惕性较低（64.0%）。
该研究表明肉类处理人员的食品处理水平不尽人意。这一结果证明了由于食品处理人员忽视卫生行为，消费者面临着普遍存在的潜在风险。考虑到态度和知识与结果变量相关，投入时间开展有助于改善肉类处理人员态度和做法的行为改变活动至关重要，主要侧重于减少患病时工作。因此，当地卫生部门和监管机构有望开展更多的监督和指导工作。
