Food hygiene training in small to medium-sized care settings

Abstract

Adoption of safe food handling practices is essential to effectively manage food safety. This study explores the impact of basic or foundation level food hygiene training on the attitudes and intentions of food handlers (n=135) in small/medium sized care settings, using questionnaires based on The Theory of Planned Behaviour.Interviews were also conducted with food handlers (n=20) and their managers (n=10) to ascertain beliefs about the efficacy of, perceived barriers to and relevance of training.Most food handlers had undertaken formal food hygiene training; however, many whohad not yet received training were preparing food, including high risk foods.Appropriate pre-training support and on-going supervision appeared to be lacking, thus limiting the effectiveness of training. Findings showed Subjective Norm to be the most significant influence on food handlers' intention to perform safe food handling practices, irrespective of training status, emphasising the importance of others in determining desirable behaviours. Keywords Food Handler Hygiene Training Care settings IntroductionThere is significant literature on food hygiene training / education in the hospitality industry (e.g. Sprenger, 1999; MacAuslan, 2001;Worsfold and Griffith, 2003;Seaman and Eves, 2006), but very few articles (e.g. Worsfold, 1996) specifically relate to food hygiene training / education of care setting workers. 'Care setting' represents premises such as children's nurseries, day-care settings, pre-schools, respite units, and residential homes. Those most vulnerable or 'at risk' groups of contracting food-borne illness are the young, elderly, sick and the immunocompromised (Käferstein et al., 1997), many of which are fed and cared for in care settings. It is notable that 28% of all outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease (which includes food-borne illness) reported between 1992 and 2000, originated in residential establishments (Meakins, et al, 2003).Strategies for reducing the incidence of food poisoning or food-borne illness have been debated for some time (Charles, 1982;Gilbert, 1983), with a dual approach based upon legislation and education advocated (Charles, 1982;Todd, 1989). Thus, the UK Food Safety Act 1990 requires mandatory food hygiene education or training for all food handlers. Studies (Howes et al., 1996;Powell et al., 1997), however, have indicated that increased knowledge may not result in desired changes in food handling behaviour. Worsfold (1996) found that the standards of food handling practices in day nurseries were high, despite some kitchen and nursery assistants having no formal food hygiene training. However, there is a lack of literature discussing the provision of food hygiene training to food handlers in care settings.Several authors provide support for the use of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in the prediction of a wide range of behaviours, including food handling (Clayton et al., 2002), and hand hygiene, (Jenner et al., 2002). The TRA assumes that be...

Food hygiene training: Introducing the Food Hygiene Training Model

“…Despite an increase in the number of food handlers receiving such training, a high proportion of food poisoning outbreaks still occur in commercial catering settings as a result of poor food handling practices (Clayton, Griffith, Price, & Peters, 2002). The enactment of safe food handling practices, learnt during food hygiene training, requires the food handler to use the resources available to them and implement the knowledge and skills into practical application, unfortunately, in most cases, food hygiene training does not translate into positive food handling behaviours (Clayton et al, 2002;Green et al, 2005;Powell, Attwell, & Massey, 1997;Riben, Mathias, Campbell, & Wiens, 1994) or any behavioural changes which are noticed in the workplace are ephemeral (Seaman & Eves, 2008). Although many reports (Little, Lock, Barnes, & Mitchell, 2003;Rennie, 1994;Worsfold, Griffith, & Worsfold, 2004) indicate the failure of formal courses to generate improvements in food handling practices, investigators almost invariably concluded that food hygiene education programmes should be encouraged.…”

Food handlers’ knowledge on food hygiene: The case of a catering company in Portugal

“…Training and education are essential to ensure that workers have the awareness and knowledge necessary to comply with food hygiene demands, although these do not always result in a positive change in food handling behavior (Clayton, Griffith, Price & Peters, 2002;Seaman & Eves, 2008). The need for training of food handlers is an essential part of HACCP concept and is thus recognized by EU legislation (EU Regulation 852/2004) and by international organizations such as the WHO (WHO, 2000).…”

Evaluation of hygienic-sanitary conditions of hospital nutrition and dietary services from the perspectives of internal and external auditors

“…Offering a safe meal for these individuals is very important, and a systematic approach is required to control food contaminants. This approach includes implementing tools to preserve the hygienicsanitary quality of foods, updating knowledge and perceptions, and supervising the technical staff members responsible for identifying factors that may contribute to the development of the foodborne diseases (BUCCHERI et al, 2007;EVES, 2008;SOUSA;CAMPOS, 2003).…”