Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of food safety among the residents of an urban slum- A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Food safety refers to limiting the presence of those hazards whether chronic or acute, that may make food injurious to the health of the consumer. Ensuring food safety is the responsibility of everyone involved with handling and preparation of food. Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of food safety among the women inmates of the households located in an urban slum. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the women involved in food preparation in YSR colony, an urban slum located adjacent to a private medical college in Visakhapatnam with a sample size of 121. The data was collected by interviewing the study subject using a pre-designed, pretested questionnaire. Results: Only 35.5% of the women were having good knowledge of food safety. 54.5% of them were having favourable attitude towards food safety and 57% of them were having good practice of food safety. The Spearman’s rank correlation test showed positive correlation between scores of knowledge and scores of attitude of the women of food safety (r=.241 ; p= 0.008) and between scores of attitude and scores of practice of the women participants and their correlation was found to be statistically significant ( r=.826 ; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Most of the women residents’ knowledge, attitude and practices towards ‘WHO Five keys for Food safety’ is abysmally low and the gaps have to be plugged for promoting nutrition and ensuring a healthy society.