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Background Food handlers can play a vital role into reducing foodborne diseases by adopting appropriate food handling and sanitation practices in working plants. This study aimed to assess the factors associated with food safety knowledge and practices among meat handlers who work at butcher shops in Bangladesh. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 meat handlers from January to March, 2021. Data were collected through in-person interviews using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of three parts; socio-demographic characteristics, assessments of food safety knowledge, and food safety practices. A multiple logistic regression model was used to identify the factors associated with food safety knowledge and practices. Results Only 20% [95% confidence interval, (CI) 15.7–24.7] and 16.3% (95% CI 12.3–20.7) of the respondents demonstrated good levels of food safety knowledge and practices, respectively. The factors associated with good levels of food safety knowledge were: having a higher secondary education [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 4.57, 95% CI 1.11–18.76], income above 25,000 BDT/month (AOR = 10.52, 95% CI 3.43–32.26), work experience of > 10 years (AOR = 9.31, 95% CI 1.92–45.09), ≥ 8 h per day of work (AOR = 6.14, 95% CI 2.69–13.10), employed on a daily basis (AOR = 4.05, 95% CI 1.16–14.14), and having food safety training (AOR = 8.98 95% CI 2.16–37.32). Good food safety knowledge (AOR = 5.68, 95% CI 2.33–13.87) and working ≥ 8 h per day (AOR = 8.44, 95% CI 3.11–22.91) were significantly associated with a good level of food safety practice. Conclusions Poor knowledge and practices regarding food safety were found among Bangladeshi meat handlers. Findings may help public health professionals and practitioners develop targeted strategies to improve food safety knowledge and practices among this population. Such strategies may include education and sensitization on good food safety practices.

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Eating disorders among university students have been increasing day by day in developing countries. However, there is a dearth of existing literature that assessed eating disorder risk among this population group in Bangladesh. Thus, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of eating disorder risk and its associated factors among university students. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 365 Bangladeshi public university students from October to December 2019. Data were collected by self-reported questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics, risk of eating disorder, and nutritional status of study participants. The respondents' eating disorder risk and nutritional status were assessed using the validated eating attitudes test-26 (EAT-26) tool and anthropometric measurement, respectively. A cut-off score of ≥ 20 based on EAT-26 indicates the presence of an eating disorder risk. Finally, a binary logistic regression was employed to identify the determinants of an eating disorder. The prevalence of 'eating disorder risk' was 23.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 18.6 to 27.4). Being female (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.4, 95% CI: 1.4 to 4.2), aged between 17-21 years (AOR = 2.0, 95% CI: 1.2 to 3.6), overweight (AOR = 4.9; 95% CI: 1.6 to 14.9) and obese (AOR = 7.7, 95% CI: 1.9 to 31.4) showed a higher odds of having an eating disorder risk in the present study. The higher prevalence of eating disorders in the study indicates that psychological intervention and health awareness programs, particularly to younger age, female, and overweight and obese students at the university level, would effectively prevent the eating disorder risk.

Background Malnutrition and depression are highly prevalent in older adults and can lead to disparaging outcomes. Analytical studies on geriatric depression (GD) and its association with malnutrition are very scarce in Bangladesh, although the size of the older population is increasing fast in the country. The current study aimed to assess the association between malnutrition and depression and associated risk factors in rural older adults. Methods A community-based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in 600 older adult residents (aged ≥60 years) of three rural communities of Bangladesh from January to October 2019. The study enrolled two groups of participants; 300 depressed as cases and another 300 non-depressed older adults as a comparison group matching their age and living area. We used a semi-structured questionnaire to collect data through a face-to-face interview. Geriatric Depression Scale-15 was used to determine depression, and a score of ≥5 was considered as depressed. We used the Bangla version of the Mini-Nutritional Assessment-Short Form to assess nutritional status, which comprised questions related to appetite, weight loss, mobility, recent illness/stress, dementia/depression, and BMI, and considered a score of 0–7 as the cutoff score for malnutrition. Measures included baseline and personal characteristics, malnutrition, GD, and its associated risk factors. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify variables associated with the risk of GD. Results The study found no significant difference in gender (male Vs. female) between depressed (44.0% Vs. 56.0%) and non-depressed (46.0% Vs. 54.0%) older individuals. The study revealed that malnutrition was significantly (p < 0.01) higher in depressed (56.0%) than in non-depressed (18.0%) rural older adults. The malnourished older adults had around three times (AOR = 3.155; 95% CI: 1.53–6.49, p = 0.002) more risk of having depression than the well-nourished older individuals. Older adults who were unemployed (AOR = 4.964; 95% CI: 2.361–10.440; p = 0.0001) and from lower and middle class (AOR = 3.654; 95% CI: 2.266–7.767; p = 0.001) were more likely to experience depression. Older adults having a ‘poor diet’ were more likely to experience depression (AOR = 3.384; 95% CI: 1.764–6.703; p = 0.0001). The rural older adults who were single (AOR = 2.368; 95% CI: 1.762–6.524; p = 0.001) and tobacco users (AOR = 2.332; 95% CI: 1.663–5.623; p = 0.003) were found more likely to experience depression. Conclusions A significant association between malnutrition and depression was evident by the current study in the rural older individuals of Bangladesh. It will be a prolific initiative if policymakers merge malnutrition and the risk factors associated with geriatric depression in providing universal health care for better health and well-being of the rural older populations.