Food Safety Attitude of Culinary Arts Based Students in Public and Private Higher Learning Institutions (IPT)

Abstract

Food safety issue is not new in Malaysia as problems such as unsafe food handling, doubtful food preparation, food poisoning outbreaks in schools and education institutions and spreading of infectious food borne illness has been discussed by the public more often than before. The purpose of this study is to examine the food safety knowledge and attitude of culinary based students from four (4) public and private higher learning institutions (IPT) with prior knowledge on food safety, hygiene and sanitation. The study involved a total of 114 group administered questionnaires that were usable and coded comprising of 34-questions assessing their knowledge and attitude on food safety. The research finds that higher learning institution's students who have prior knowledge on food safety partly do not represent their attitude towards food safety although their correlations recorded moderate positive relationships especially on personal hygiene practice (p=0.07, r=0.42) and keeping food at safe temperature (p=0.17, r=0.36). On the other hand, their knowledge in avoiding cross contamination (p=0.00, r=0.50) and avoiding food from unsafe sources (p=0.02, r=0.36) were positive and significant in influencing their food safety attitude. There were no significant differences among food safety knowledge and attitude based on the students' demographic profiles. The results urged for more improvement in both knowledge and practice of food safety among students in public and private higher learning institutions towards recommended food safety standards and positive attitude in food preparation process.

Evaluating Food Safety Knowledge and Practices among Foodservice Staff in Al Madinah Hospitals, Saudi Arabia

“…The results outline that nationality, gender, age and training are not positively correlated with food safety knowledge and food safety practices of food service staff in Al Madinah Hospital in Saudi Arabia. Similar findings have been reported that food safety knowledge and practices are not affected by ethnic origin [27], gender [26], age and trainings [39,42].…”

“…A study in peninsular Malaysia to assess food safety knowledge and food handling practices among migrant food handlers also noted that there were significant links between poor levels of food safety knowledge and respondents' nationality [26]. However, other studies argue that food safety knowledge is not affected by ethnic origin [27].…”

Food safety education makes the difference: food safety perceptions, knowledge, attitudes and practices among Turkish university students

“…There are many studies in the literature focusing on the food safety knowledge, attitude, and practices of food producers and consumers. Regardless of age, consumers claim that they know food safety principles but their food handling practices usually do not support it (Unusan 2007;Subba et al 2007;Sanlier 2009;Haapala and Probart 2004;Abd Patah et al 2009). Nevertheless, only a few studies have been conducted to evaluate the food safety perception, knowledge levels, attitudes, and practices among the university students.…”

Application of failure mode and effect analysis model to foodservice systems operated by chefs in practice and by chefs from a culinary school in Turkey

“…Majority of ''chefs in practice'' have little information about physical, chemical, biological contaminants and cross-contamination in food production. They usually use the same cutting board and utensils for preparing different types ingredients without washing them between each use (Patah et al 2009). …”

“…Poor cooking and holding temperature control is one of the basic reasons to foodborne outbreaks (Patah et al 2009). Cooking food to over 75°C kills most of the bacteria.…”