Effect of Food Safety Intervention on Safe Handling Practices among Food Handlers and Microbial Assays of Processed Food Products of Fruits and Vegetables Industries

Abstract

Food hygiene is the condition that to guarantee the safety of food from production to consumption. The present study was conducted in Kerala state. This study focused on assessing the knowledge, attitude and self-reported practices among the selected food handlers via specially designed questionnaire and training for the period of 180 days. Microbial assays of processed food products were carried out and to find out the best washing (cleaning agent) to clean the processed products. Two hundred food handlers were selected for the present research study. The food handlers were trained for a period of six months using suitable education and training modules. Thirty pre and post swab tests were conducted to determine the bacterial count of the hands and surfaces in the processing units. A record was maintained to review the best washing solution and practices to clean fruits and vegetables thoroughly. Microbial assay was carried out for selected processed food products of fruits and vegetables industries. For statistical analysis and interpretation the data was tabulated and analyzed using SPSS software. Paired t test, mean, SD and Pearson coefficient correlation. An extremely statistically significant change was observed in the t value for the swab test on total bacterial count which was t=18.0198 with a plt 0.0001. Among the various type of cleaning agents. Veggie clean was found to be the most effective washing solution and reducing bacterial count from 80cfu/g to 9 cfu/g. Pickle had the highest bacterial and fungal growth of 11×102 cfu/g and 50cfu/g respectively. A strong positive correlation was recorded among Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) due to the food safety intervention for the period of six months. Hence awareness related to food safety and safe handling practices among food handlers prevent health hazards and promote good health and well -being. newlinei) Major objectives : newline Identification of food handlers and collection of data related to the knowledge of food safety, personal hygiene, infrastructu