Chauhan Saurabh, Parashar Mamta, Khandekar Jyoti
Community Medicine, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC) and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, IND.
Community Medicine, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, IND.
Cureus. 2025 Jun 26;17(6):e86787. doi: 10.7759/cureus.86787. eCollection 2025 Jun.
Food safety behavior modification among food handlers is pivotal to build capacity, prevent, detect, and respond to threats associated with unsafe food handling.
The objective of this study was to assess behavioral precursors to food safety practices among food handlers in a tertiary care hospital in New Delhi, India.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2022-23 among 111 food handlers working in a tertiary care hospital in Delhi, using a pre-tested interview schedule based on the World Health Organization (WHO) food safety manual to assess behavioral precursors regarding food safety and their interrelationships. The scores obtained were graded into good, fair, and poor, and were analyzed for possible associations.
The mean age of study participants was 38.64 ± 15.59 years. The majority of study participants had poor knowledge (70.3%), attitudes (88.3%), and practices (89.2%) (KAP). Training was the strongest predictor of food safety KAP, with significant positive effects across all models (β = 0.40, 0.38, 0.40; p < 0.01). Education status and work experience also showed significant associations contributing to improved food safety practices. The nature of the job significantly impacted attitudes (p = 0.04) and practices (p = 0.05), suggesting that different roles require structured interventions. The overall R² values (knowledge: 0.42, attitudes: 0.38, practices: 0.40) indicate that these predictors explain a substantial portion of the variance in KAP scores. Attitude scores were found to be significant between categories of the nature of the job (p = 0.04). Practice scores were found to be significant between various categories of educational status (p = 0.001) and categories of nature of job (p = 0.05).
The study assesses the possibility of evidence-based food safety interventions in educational institutions like teaching hospitals/colleges to identify knowledge gaps, address attitudinal barriers, and promote best practices through behavior modification to safeguard public health and enhance consumer confidence in the food service industry.
食品从业人员的食品安全行为改变对于建设能力、预防、发现和应对与不安全食品处理相关的威胁至关重要。
本研究的目的是评估印度新德里一家三级护理医院食品从业人员食品安全实践的行为先兆。
2022 - 2023年对德里一家三级护理医院的111名食品从业人员进行了一项横断面研究，使用基于世界卫生组织（WHO）食品安全手册预先测试的访谈提纲来评估食品安全行为先兆及其相互关系。获得的分数分为良好、中等和较差，并对可能的关联进行分析。
研究参与者的平均年龄为38.64 ± 15.59岁。大多数研究参与者的知识（70.3%）、态度（88.3%）和实践（89.2%）（知识、态度和实践）较差。培训是食品安全知识、态度和实践的最强预测因素，在所有模型中均有显著的积极影响（β = 0.40、0.38、0.40；p < 0.01）。教育程度和工作经验也显示出对改善食品安全实践有显著关联。工作性质对态度（p = 0.04）和实践（p = 0.05）有显著影响，表明不同角色需要有针对性的干预措施。总体R²值（知识：0.42，态度：0.38，实践：0.40）表明这些预测因素解释了知识、态度和实践得分差异的很大一部分。发现态度得分在工作性质类别之间存在显著差异（p = 0.04）。实践得分在不同教育程度类别（p = 0.001）和工作性质类别（p = 0.05）之间存在显著差异。
本研究评估了在教学医院/学院等教育机构中基于证据的食品安全干预措施的可能性，以识别知识差距、消除态度障碍，并通过行为改变促进最佳实践，以保障公众健康并增强消费者对食品服务业的信心。
