Food Safety Practices And Associated Factors Among Food Handlers Working In Food Establishments In Ambo Town, West Shoa Zone, Oromia, Centeral Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Consumers health would be at risk unless food safety is ensured by food handlers in establishments. Food safety is ultimate concern with food handling in food establishments as these foods are generally required to be prepared and kept under safe conditions. However, evidence regarding food safety practice is limited in West Shoa including the study area. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess food safety practice and associated factors among food handlers working in Ambo town, west Shoa, Central Ethiopia. Methods: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted in Ambo town from August 30 to September 28, 2022. A total of 420 food handlers were selected by simple random sampling techniques. Food safety practice level was measured by response to a total of 17 food safety practice related questions and who score > 60% considered as “having good level of practice”. The data were collected using pretested face to face interviewer administered structured questionnaire after ethical clearance and proper consent. The collected data were entered into Epi data version 3.1, and then exported to SPSS version 20 for more data checking, cleaning, and analysis. Bi-variable logistic regression analysis was done and variables with p-value < 0.25 were considered as candidate for multivariable binary logistic regression analysis. Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR) and their 95% confidence intervals were estimated to identify the presence and strength of associations, and statistical significance was declared at a p-value <0.05. Results: In this study, a total of four hundred twenty food handlers were participated with a response rate of 98.8%. About 48.6%, 95% CI :( 43.9% -53.4%) of the respondents had good food safety practices. The factors associated with good levels of food safety practice were: having food safety training [adjusted odds ratio (AOR)= 6.05, 95% CI:(3.49-10.49)], medical checkup [AOR=2.07, 95% CI:(1.11-3.86)], inspected by health professions [AOR= 2.26, 95% CI:(1.32- 3.88)], work experience of 6-10 years [AOR=4.71, 95% CI:( 2.11-10.50)], monthly income of 1200-1900ETB [AOR= 3.07, 95% CI:(1.69- 5.59)], monthly income above 1900 ETB/month [AOR=6.00, 95% CI: (3.01-11.96)] and good food safety knowledge [AOR= 2.25, 95% CI: (1.32-3.86)] were significantly associated with food safety practices at p value <0.05. Conclusion: The level of good food safety practice level is low compared to other studies. Health education programs to increase food safety knowledge, promotion of food safety training, routine medical checkup and follow-up should be implemented by different relevant stakeholders to improve the level of food safety practices among food handlers.