Socio-demographic Characteristics and Food Hygiene Level Assessment of Food Handlers in Cafeterias around a Federal University in Nigeria

Background and Objective: Globally, food hygiene/food borne illnesses remain subjects of great concern. This study sought to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of food hygiene; and to determine the types, prevalence and load of microbial isolates among food handlers’ in cafeterias around a University in South-Western Nigeria. It also highlighted the socio-demographic characteristics of food handlers/respondents.

Study Design: A cross sectional descriptive design was used, followed by sample collection and analyses.

Place and Duration of Study: Study was carried out over a period of three months at cafeterias around the University campus gates.

Methodology: A cross sectional descriptive design using a simple random sampling technique to select 50 participants from six major cafeterias around the University. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Microbial samples collected using palm imprint method, prior to microbial isolation and identification. Descriptive analyses were done with frequency and summary statistics, and SPSS version 15 to determine significant relationships with the p set at 0.05 significance level.

Results: Majority of respondents were female (70%). A higher percentage (46%) of respondents was between 20-29 years. More than half (62%) of respondents were married. Knowledge of food hygiene was good (42%), likewise the attitude (34%), but only one fifth of respondents had good food hygiene practices. Escherichia coli had the highest occurrence (18.9%) of all bacteria. Aspergillus niger had the highest occurrence (31.6%) of all fungal isolates. Hygiene level of respondents was generally low due to the high occurrence of E. coli.

Conclusion: Knowledge of food hygiene amongst food handlers was not complemented by good hygiene practices. Research findings serve as an early warning system to aid implementation of monitoring systems, and spur urgent action from relevant authorities.