A Study to Ascertain and Assess Food Hygiene Pratices Among Food Handlers in University of Nigeria Enugu Campus

ABSTRACT
Food hygiene is a subject of great concern to anyone who cares about eating healthy and staying alive because the import of food borne illness can occasionally be grave. This research work was carried out among food handlers in University of Nigeria Enugu Campus (UNEC),Enugu state of Nigeria; it sought to assess the level of knowledge of food hygiene among food handlers, attitude of food handlers towards hygiene, practice of food hygiene by food handlers, the nature and frequency of medical examination(s) the handlers undergo .
A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out involving 50 food handlers who met the inclusion criteria. Data was collected via the use of questionnaires and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) .
Knowledge of food hygiene was good among the handlers (94.0%) likewise the attitude (76.0%) but good practice was practiced by very few food handlers (10.0%) whereas majority of them had fair practice (60.0%). More food handlers had periodic medical examination than those who had pre-employment medical examination; 60.0% and 20.0% respectively.
It was concluded that practice of food hygiene was fair and a lot of effort has to be put in the areas of medical examination of the food handlers and personal hygiene like hand washing and wearing of protective cover-clothing.