Beliefs and practices in food safety among food handlers in restaurants of Chikankata district,Zambia
Date
2017
Authors
Malambo, Danny
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Abstract
Chikankata district is one of the newest districts of Southern Province and the busiest route as it
connects Chirundu, Siavonga and Livingstone boarders to Lusaka. It is located 52kms from the
capital city of Lusaka and shares boarders with Mazabuka, Siavonga, Chirundu and Kafue
districts. It is a transit district with a huge traffic of people and goods moving through the
Livingstone and Chirundu roads respectively to Lusaka and vice versa. According to CSO
(2010), the district has a population of 59,909 inhabitants. Recently the general population has
increased and this has lead to an increase in the demand for wide variety of food stuffs and eating
establishments such as lodges, restaurants and guest houses. This prompted for the need to
conduct a study on the beliefs and practices in food safety among food handlers of Chikankata
District. The general objective of the study was to determine beliefs and practices in food safety
among food handlers in Chikankata district. Specifically the study was designed to establish the
socio-demographic characteristics of food handlers, describe beliefs in food safety among food
handlers, assess food hygiene practices in food safety among food handlers, determine the level
of knowledge in food safety among food handlers in food outlets and to determine association
between social demographic characteristics with food safety in the district. The study site was
Chikankata district with a sample size of about 120 food handlers working in the 26 restaurants
which are registered and unregistered by the local authority. In general, regardless of the
education level, there were more female food handlers (87.5%) working in restaurants than male
in all age groups. The study revealed that 60% were not trained in any food hygiene and 87.5%
of food handlers washed hands after every procedure in the restaurant while 5% washed hands
twice in a shift. The study revealed that food handlers that were knowledgeable were among
those with secondary level of education. The association between level of knowledge and
practices was significant at 95% level of confidence with P-value=0.001. This significance was
well supported by what food handlers believe about food safety. This study has therefore
revealed that there was an association between level of knowledge and practices among food
handlers.
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Keywords
Food industry trade--Safety measures--Handlers--Zambia , Food service--Sanitation--Zambia , Restaurants--Employees--Health and hygiene--Zambia