Food safety knowledge among cadets of Military Academy in Republic of Serbia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the level of food safety knowledge among cadets of Military Academy in the Republic of Serbia. For that purpose, a structured, self-administrative questionnaire was designed and used to assess the level of food handling practices and food safety knowledge. In total, 120 cadets were involved in the study. For each participating cadet, the food handling practice score (FHPS) and food safety knowledge score (FSKS) was calculated by dividing the sum of correct answers by the total number of correct responses. Additionally, knowledge gaps were identified for each question. Our results indicated that on the average FHPS among Serbian cadets was 44.5%, while FSKS was 50.5%. Female cadets showed better scores compared to males, although this was not statistically significant. Better FHPS scores were determined among cadets living with parents (48.7%), compared to cadets living with roommates (43.6%, p?0.05), while an opposite was determined for FSKS. In total, 95.8% of cadets apply good practice of hand hygiene before preparing food, 90.8% of them knew that is not safe to consume food when the shelf-life is expired, and 89.2% knew that the opened sterilized milk should not be stored outside the refrigerator. Also, 91.7% of cadets knew that content of blown can is not safe for the consumption. Almost 64.2% of all cadets could successfully make association between meat and Trichinella, while merely 27.5% of them knew that Escherichia coli O157 is the most important pathogen for raw minced meat, and only 13.3% of cadets knew that Listeria monocytogenes is associated with ready-to-eat meat products. Finally, only 10% of cadets knew that Campylobacter is food-borne pathogen mostly associated with raw and undercooked chicken meat. Also, our cadets were not aware that color, smell or appearance of food would not give any indication of food contamination, as only 6.7% of cadets knew this. Results obtained in this study pointed out some food safety areas which need further improvement via educational program, but also via media and internet courses, material or short clips.

Knowledge about food safety and handling practices – Lessons from the Serbian public universities

“…In our study, the overall food handling practice score was the sum of the correct responses in the self-reported food handling practices section for each student and its mean value was 45.7% (SD=15.7), while the mean score for the food-safety knowledge was 57.9% (SD=15.1). A similar finding was reported in Lebanon ( 24 ), Greece ( 16 ), and Serbia ( 32 , 33 ). Lazou et al ( 16 ) reported that the mean scores of food safety knowledge and self-reported food handling practices among Greek university students were 60% and 44% ( 16 ), in Lebanon they were 53% and 44% ( 24 ), and in Serbia they were 56% and 46% ( 32 , 33 ).…”

“…A similar finding was reported in Lebanon ( 24 ), Greece ( 16 ), and Serbia ( 32 , 33 ). Lazou et al ( 16 ) reported that the mean scores of food safety knowledge and self-reported food handling practices among Greek university students were 60% and 44% ( 16 ), in Lebanon they were 53% and 44% ( 24 ), and in Serbia they were 56% and 46% ( 32 , 33 ).…”

“…In the last 15 years, a range of research ( 10 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ) has been conducted in order to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to food safety among students, and at universities, and they have all had a similar contribution, which can be seen in the continuity of the conducted studies and the results of this research. The study proved that students from the University of Novi Sad had better knowledge related to self-reported food handling practices, whereas students from Belgrade had better knowledge regarding food safety basics.…”

“…The questionnaire was developed by incorporating questions selected from an updated, reliable, and valid instrument produced by Byrd-Bredbenner et al ( 9 ), and used in similar studies done in Serbia ( 32 , 33 ). Appropriate modifications were made to some of the selected questions, as regards adjustments to specific eating habits in Serbia.…”

“…It is interesting to point out that a related study had already been done among the cadets of the Military Academy in Serbia ( 32 ). The evaluation of the level of food safety knowledge among them showed relatively good knowledge of some food safety issues, including prevention of cross contamination in the kitchen, hand and personal hygiene.…”