Knowledge of Food Safety Among Food Handlers in Boarding Secondary Schools in Bauchi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated knowledge of food safety among food handlers in Bauchi State. Three research questions were answered and three null hypotheses were tested. The population of the study consisted of 317 food handlers in boarding secondary schools in the state. Census sampling technique was used to select the entire population of the study area in all the thirty five (35) boarding secondary schools in Bauchi State as sample of the study. Researcher’s developed questionnaire named Food Safety Knowledge among food handlers Questionnaire (FSKQ) was used as instrument for data collection which was validated by three experts and reliability index of 0.75 was obtained. Out of three hundred and seventeen (317) copies of questionnaire administered, only three hundred and five (305) were dully filled, returned and used for data analysis. Simple frequency counts and percentage were used to organise and describe demographic information of the respondents while Chi- square, independent t-test, Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that food handlers in boarding secondary schools in Bauchi State had knowledge of food safety (χ2=192.645,df:1; P<0.05); there was no significant difference between male and female food handlers on knowledge of food safety (t=148, df: 302; P>0.05) and there was no significant difference in knowledge of food safety among food handlers in boarding secondary schools in Bauchi State based on their years of experience (F=.158, df: 3, 300; P>0.05). It was therefore recommended among others that government should ensure adequate and regular training of food handlers and also institute a modality for regular monitoring of food handlers in boarding secondary schools in Bauchi State to ensure effective food safety practices.