Food Safety Behaviours among Food Handlers in Different Food Service Establishments in Montenegro

Snežana Barjaktarović Labović (), Ivana Joksimović, Igor Galić, Miro Knežević and Marijana Mimović
Additional contact information
Snežana Barjaktarović Labović: Institute of Public Health, John Jackson bb, 81 000 Podgorica, Montenegro
Ivana Joksimović: Institute of Public Health, John Jackson bb, 81 000 Podgorica, Montenegro
Igor Galić: Institute of Public Health, John Jackson bb, 81 000 Podgorica, Montenegro
Miro Knežević: Clinical Centar Podgorica, Ljubljanska bb, 81 000 Podgorica, Montenegro
Marijana Mimović: Institute of Public Health, John Jackson bb, 81 000 Podgorica, Montenegro

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: Foodborne diseases in food facilities are a major public health problem, due mostly to the limited surveillance and educational level of food-handling workers. This study was conducted in 220 food service locations in Montenegro. Participants’ behaviour was assessed by a survey using the specifically designed structured questionnaire, administered before and after the training. To determine the effect of the training on the performance of food handlers, a microbiological analysis of food contact surfaces and food handlers’ hands was also performed. The behaviour of food handlers, viewed as a whole, is unacceptable. There was a statistically significant difference (<0.05) among participants who completed catering school compared with those who did not, regarding hand washing. The type of facility in which participants worked (restaurant, bakery, or pastry shop) revealed statistically significant differences (<0.05) in relation to hand washing, that is, restaurant employees had better habits than those from bakeries and pastry shops. Before the training, participants showed acceptable behaviour regarding hand hygiene, but it was much better after the training. Results of microbiological analyses of food contact surfaces and food handlers’ hands indicated better results after the education, especially with regard to hand swabs. The results of this study indicate the importance of education to improve food handling practices among food handlers, which might also decrease the possibilities for contamination of food.

Keywords: food handlers; hygiene; food safety; training; food establishments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/997/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/997/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:997-:d:1026336

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().