Tamiru Sanbato, Bidira Kebebe, Moges Tesema, Dugasa Milkias, Amsalu Bonsa, Gezimu Wubishet
Department of Nursing, Mettu University, Mettu, Ethiopia.
Department of Public Health, Mettu University, Mettu, Ethiopia.
BMC Nutr. 2022 Dec 22;8(1):151. doi: 10.1186/s40795-022-00651-3.
Food safety and hygiene are currently a global health concern, especially in unindustrialized countries, as a result of increasing food-borne diseases (FBDs) and accompanying deaths. It has continued to be a critical problem for people, food companies, and food control officials in developed and developing nations.
The objective of the study was to assess food safety practices and associated factors among food handlers in food establishments in Mettu and Bedelle towns, south-west Ethiopia, 2022.
A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to March 2022, among 450 randomly selected food handlers working in food and drink establishments in Mettu and Bedelle towns, Southwest Ethiopia. Data was collected using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire. The data was coded and entered into Epi Data version 3.1 before being exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Both bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models were fitted. An adjusted odds ratio and a 95% confidence level were estimated to assess the significance of associations. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered sufficient to declare the statistical significance of variables in the final model.
A total of 450 food handlers participated in the study, making the response rate 99.3%. About 202 (44.9%) of respondents had poor practices in food safety. Lack of supervision (AOR = 6.2, 95% CI: 3.37, 11.39), absence of regular medical checkups (AOR = 1.98; 95% CI: 1.14, 3.43), lack of knowledge of food safety practices (AOR =2.32; 95% CI: 1.38, 3.89), availability of water storage equipment (AOR =0.37; CI: 0.21, 0.64), and unavailability of a refrigerator (AOR =0.24; 95% CI: 0.12) were factors significantly associated with food safety practices.
The level of poor food safety practices was remarkably high. Knowledge of food safety, medical checkups, service year as food handler, availability of water storage equipment, availability of refrigerator, and sanitary supervision were all significantly associated with food safety practice. Hence, great efforts are needed to improve food safety practices, and awareness should be created for food handlers on food safety.
由于食源性疾病（FBDs）及其导致的死亡人数不断增加，食品安全与卫生目前已成为全球健康问题，在非工业化国家尤为如此。对于发达国家和发展中国家的民众、食品公司及食品监管官员而言，这一直是个关键问题。
本研究旨在评估2022年埃塞俄比亚西南部梅图和贝代尔镇食品经营场所食品从业人员的食品安全行为及相关因素。
2022年2月至3月，在埃塞俄比亚西南部梅图和贝代尔镇餐饮场所随机抽取450名食品从业人员开展了一项基于社区的横断面研究。通过访谈员实施的结构化问卷收集数据。数据经编码后录入Epi Data 3.1版本，随后导出至SPSS 20版本进行分析。拟合了双变量和多变量逻辑回归模型。估计调整后的比值比和95%置信水平以评估关联的显著性。p值<0.05被认为足以表明最终模型中变量具有统计学显著性。
共有450名食品从业人员参与了研究，回复率为99.3%。约202名（44.9%）受访者在食品安全方面行为较差。缺乏监管（调整后的比值比[AOR]=6.2，95%置信区间[CI]：3.37，11.39）、未进行定期体检（AOR=1.98；95% CI：1.14，3.43）、缺乏食品安全行为知识（AOR=2.32；95% CI：1.38，3.89）、有储水设备（AOR=0.37；CI：0.21，0.64）以及没有冰箱（AOR=0.24；95% CI：0.12）是与食品安全行为显著相关的因素。
食品安全行为较差的水平非常高。食品安全知识、体检、食品从业年限、储水设备的配备、冰箱的配备以及卫生监管均与食品安全行为显著相关。因此，需要付出巨大努力来改善食品安全行为，并提高食品从业人员对食品安全的认识。
