Knowledge of food safety and handling in households: A survey of food handlers in Mainland China

The objective of the study was to provide a picture of knowledge of food safety and handling in households and identify a demographic profile of “high-risk” groups with the poorest knowledge. A national survey of food handlers in Mainland China (n = 482) was conducted using previously validated closed questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of 26 knowledge questions, which included 5 scales that covered key concepts of food safety and handling in households, and 7 demographic questions. The respondents demonstrated a very low level of knowledge and the mean score awarded to them was 7.95 (knowledge scores from 0 to 26). The data were further analyzed to determine differences in knowledge between populations of different demographics. Differences were found between male and female respondents (p < 0.01), urban and rural respondents (p < 0.01) and respondents with different income levels (p = 0.04). Two “high-risk” groups with the lowest level of knowledge are 1) male food handlers with a per capita annual income of less than 30,000 CNY (4773 USD) and 2) female food handlers who live in rural areas and have a per capita annual income below 30,000 CNY (4773 USD) and deserve special attention. This is the first national survey in Mainland China and the results suggested that developing educational programs related to food safety and handling in households of Mainland China are urgently needed.     

Review of the current application of fingerprinting allowing detection of food adulteration and fraud in China

Food safety problem has become a serious problem all over the world particularly in China. There is a rapid increasing requirement for more accurate and sensitive detection method to cope the more subtle adulterations in food. This paper reviewed and linked the scattered research activity about the application and research conditions of fingerprinting method in food detection mainly in China. The classification, application domain, strengthens and limitations of fingerprinting technology were discussed. The results bring out the benefits of both professionals and scientists.     

Evaluation of food safety training on hygienic conditions in food establishments

Food handlers' training is fundamental in order to ensure the safety of the foodstuff. However, the success of training programs that provide only information is unclear and changes in improper food practices are not usually achieved. Food training programs based on theoretical as well as practical activities have been revealed as an important tool in which food handlers can put information into practice. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the influence of food safety training, based on both theoretical and practical approaches, on the microbiological counts of food contact surfaces, food tools, food equipment surfaces and hand washing in canteens and cafes of one university campus. After food safety training, total plate counts decreased about 60% in the case of canteens and almost 45% in cafes while moulds and yeasts decreased approximately 65% in canteens and 55% in cafes. In terms of location, the microbiological reductions observed were higher for food equipment in canteens and for food tools in cafes. The microbiological counts of food handlers' hands decreased after both food safety training and disinfection. Food safety training influenced the reduction of overall microbiological parameters. Parametric t-tests (after vs before training) indicated that reductions were statistically significant before and after disinfection for total plate counts. The decrease observed for total coliforms and Enterobacteriaceae, were statistically significant only before disinfection. The food safety programs cannot be based entirely on a theoretical approach but also on adequate training which includes a practical approach. The success of the microbiological reductions in the study was associated to the practical lessons which let the handler put into practice the knowledge acquired in the theoretical part.     

Knowledge,attitude and practices of food safety amongst food handlers in the coastal resort of Guangdong,China

In order to identify risk factors contributing to foodborne disease outbreaks in Guangdong province, China, the present study evaluated the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of food safety among food handlers in a coastal resort area that has a high incidence of foodborne disease outbreaks from Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The KAP of 171 food handlers from 22 food establishments—including seven food establishments in which outbreaks had occurred and 15 in which outbreaks had not occurred—were evaluated.A self-administered questionnaire designed to access the KAP of food safety was completed by the food handlers. The majority of respondents didn't know the maximum stored time at room temperature and the most common agent of foodborne disease in seafood. Most of the respondents' attitudes about food safety and training were positive. When asked about the practices undertaken, about one-fifth of the respondents admitted they had mixed food (raw and cooked) containers in varying degrees. There was significant variance among different food establishments, different ages, and different times of training. Training programs may achieve good results, but training should be more selective, educate the trainees to realize food safety is more important than fresh seafood, target how to cook seafood and lower the risk of microbiology in food, and conduct particularly focused training among managers and newcomers.     

Evaluation of basic knowledge on food safety and food handling practices amongst migrant food handlers in Peninsular Malaysia

This study was aimed to measure the basic knowledge on food safety and food handling practices among migrant food handlers as these information is scarce in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted face-to-face amongst 383 migrant food handlers from three major cities in Peninsular Malaysia through questionnaire. Socio-demographic information of all respondents was collected. Questions on food safety knowledge (i.e. food cleanliness and hygiene, symptom of foodborne illnesses and foodborne pathogens) and food handling practices were assessed. The compiled data were analyzed by using the Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) 16.0. Overall, migrant food handlers had poor level of knowledge on food safety with an average food handling practice. Significant effects were observed between respondents’ food safety knowledge and socio-demography (country of origin and educational level) and two factors namely; respondents’ nationality and attendance at food training programs showed significant associations with their food handling practices. Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that attendance at food training programs was a significant and independent predictor of the respondent’s food handling practice. The study’s findings highlighted issues with regards to the extent of knowledge acquisition on food safety and hygiene by migrant food handlers. Therefore, this warrants improvements not only in the better delivery methods of training modules but also tight enforcement of attendance at the programs by the respective authorities.     

Healthy marketplaces: an approach for ensuring food safety and environmental health

With over half of the world's population living in urban areas, an ever growing number of consumers are relying on food markets to meet their daily need for safe and nutritious food. As part of its Healthy Cities Project, WHO has developed an approach to improve that the safety and nutritional quality of foods sold in urban markets. The Healthy Marketplaces approach is being used in several pilot projects in cities around the world to coordinate efforts of all stakeholders to achieve incremental, but sustainable improvements in food markets. In addition to improvements to the physical infrastructure and essential services, behavioural changes by various market participants, including primary producers, wholesalers, market vendors and consumers, are emphasized.     

Food handlers’ knowledge on food hygiene: The case of a catering company in Portugal

The aim of this study was to assess the food hygiene knowledge of professional food handlers from an institutional catering company which manufactures and distributes meals to the canteens of schools, kindergartens and nursing homes in Portugal. A total of 101 food handlers from 18 geographically distributed business units were assessed. Data collection employed a previously used, multiple-choice questionnaire, aimed at exploring the food safety knowledge and practices of individual respondents. The average score of questions answered correctly was 13 out of 23 (56.5%) with a standard deviation (SD) of 3.22. However, the percentage of correct answers varies with the issues questioned, being significantly lower on issues such as temperature control (p < 0.001) and sources of contamination/high-risk foods (p < 0.001). The level of knowledge was influenced by the level of formal education (p = 0.025) of respondents. The results reinforce the importance of conducting a preliminary assessment of training needs and evaluating the effectiveness of training.     

Implementation of a food safety management system according to ISO 22000 in the food supplement industry: A case study

This work aims to present a methodology to carry out hazard and control measures assessments to properly establish operational prerequisite programmes (oPRPs) and the HACCP plan in the food supplement industry according to the ISO 22000 standard. This study focused on the manufacture of propolis, royal jelly and vitamin C ampoules, sold as energy boosters. Seven of the 13 hazards identified in this study were significant: two hazards were in the reception step (residues of pesticides, antibiotics and/or heavy metals (code 2) and contamination by pathogens (code 3)), two in the ingredients weighing step (cross-contamination by metabisulphite (code 9) and contamination by pathogens (code 10)), one in the mixture preparation step (contamination by pathogens and/or proliferation of microorganisms (code 11)) and two in the ampoule-filling and -sealing step (cross-contamination by metabisulphite (code 12) and contamination by pathogens (code 13)). After assessing the control measures, critical control points (CCPs) were determined in the hazards with codes 2, 9 and 12, which could be managed by an HACCP plan. The remaining hazards were managed by establishing oPRPs. Implementation of the ISO 22000 standard in the food supplement industry guarantees food safety and helps improve their competitiveness in the global market.     

Review of Salmonella detection and identification methods: Aspects of rapid emergency response and food safety

Salmonella has been recognized as a major and important foodborne pathogen for humans and animals over more than a century, causing human foodborne illness as well as high medical and economical cost. Accordingly, the effort to develop efficient and reliable Salmonella detection methods continues. This paper reviews and describes the development and application of commercially available Salmonella detection methods. These are categorized into several groups based on the principle applied: conventional culture methods, immunology-based assays, nucleic acid-based assays, miniaturized biochemical assays, and biosensors. Conventional culture methods serve as the basis in food testing laboratories despite rather laborious and time-consuming protocols. Considerable progress in rapid methods using emerging technologies yield faster answers and higher throughput of samples. This paper also shows and analyzes Salmonella test results and summarizes the features and limitations of the studies involving Salmonella detection methods developed for emergency response, mainly by food emergency response laboratories participating during recent fiscal years. The emergency response laboratories utilize Salmonella detection methods possessing properties that include simplicity, versatility, high sensitivity, good specificity, and cost efficiency. Collaboration of the food emergency response laboratories in the development of these technologies is important essentially to compare for the purpose of continually improving Salmonella detection methods.     

Performance assessment of food safety management system in the pork slaughter plants of China

The aim of this study was to investigate the status of food safety management system (FSMS) implemented at the pork slaughter plants in China, based on a detailed profile of both announced assessments carried out in 60 companies and unannounced assessments in 25 ones, with the checklist covered 29 indicators. The results from the study indicated several factors had an effect on the status of FSMS, associated with company size, location, target market, and valid certificates. The results also revealed a weakness of FSMS on good manufacture practices, including contamination control, pest control, clean and disinfection, facility environment and personal hygiene. In order to precisely measure implementation performance and better identify insufficiency, unannounced assessment was shown to be more efficient than announced assessment.     

Food safety knowledge,attitudes and self-reported practices of food handlers in institutional foodservice in Accra,Ghana

The aim of this study was to evaluate the food safety knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of food handlers from institutional food service establishments that serve hospitals, boarding senior high schools and prisons in Accra, Ghana. A total of 278 food handlers (56.8% of hospital, 30.9% of schools and 12.3% of prison food service) participated in the cross-sectional study. Data was collected by face-to-face interviews, and responses were scored to determine the level of food safety KAP. Respondents who scored ≥70% of the maximum possible score were adjudged to have sufficient knowledge and practices and positive attitudes. Results showed that respondents generally had insufficient food safety knowledge and practices with means scores of 20.99 ± 7.64 (46%) and 9.35 ± 5.62 (52%) respectively. Attitudes towards food safety were generally negative but with a comparatively higher mean score of 12.64 ± 3.06 (63%). Areas of most concern were 1) Lack of knowledge of sources of contamination/cross-contamination and appropriate holding temperatures for food. 2) Poor practices included multiple freeze-thaw cycles for frozen food and 3) Infrequent hand washing during food preparation after coughing or sneezing. There is the need for continuous risk based training to educate and effect behavioral changes among food handlers. This process will encourage positive attitudes towards food safety and consequently promote good food safety practices.     

An improved traceability system for food quality assurance and evaluation based on fuzzy classification and neural network

Currently, the food safety incidents happened frequently in china and the customer confidence declined rapidly, then the problems related to food quality and safety have attracted more and more social attention. Considering the concern with regard to food quality assurance and consumer confidence improvement, many companies have developed a traceability system to visualize the supply chain and avoid food safety incidents. In this paper, we proposed an improved food traceability system which can not only achieve forward tracking and diverse tracing like the existing systems do, but also evaluate the food quality timely along the supply chain and provide consumers with these evaluating information, to mainly enhance the consumer experience and help firms gain the trust of consumers. For the food quality evaluation, the method of fuzzy classification was used to evaluate the food quality at each stages of supply chain while the artificial neural network was adopted to derive the final determination of the grade of food quality according to all the stage quality evaluations. A case study of a pork producer was conducted, and the results showed that the improved traceability system performed well in food quality assurance and evaluation. In addition, implications of the proposed approach were discussed, and suggestions for future work were outlined.     

Rapid qualitative analysis of phthalates added to food and nutraceutical products by direct analysis in real time/orbitrap mass spectrometry

A recent food safety issue involves the contamination of a broad range of food and nutraceutical products from Taiwan with industrial plasticizers. Among the suspected contaminants are selected phthalic acid esters, such as benzyl butyl phthalate, dibutyl phthalate, diisobutyl phthalate, di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, di-n-octyl phthalate, diisononyl phthalate, and diisodecyl phthalate. Described in this study is an analytical method to rapidly qualitatively analyze these compounds in a wide variety of food and nutraceutical matrices suspected in this crisis. The method utilizes direct analysis in real time (DART) ionization coupled to a Thermo Exactive orbitrap mass spectrometer. The method is shown to be capable of detecting these compounds at levels greater than 1.0 μg/mL in all food products examined and 0.5 μg/mL in most of the samples tested. In the nutraceutical samples tested, the compounds were detected at levels of 50 μg/g for all samples with some detected as low as 1.0 μg/g.     

Performance assessment of food safety management systems in animal-based food companies in view of their context characteristics: A European study

Recurrently the question arises if efforts in food safety management system (FSMS) have resulted in effective systems in animal-based food production systems. The aim of this study was to gain an insight in the performance of FSMS in European animal-based food production companies in view of their typical context characteristics. Hundred European companies (from Belgium, Spain, The Netherlands, Greece, Italy, and Hungary) varying in company size, and producing different types of fresh and processed animal-derived products (dairy, beef/lamb, poultry, and pork) were assed using a diagnostic instrument. Results indicated that most participating companies adapted adequately their food safety management systems to the riskiness of their context characteristics resulting in rather good safety output scores. Only a small group have overall basic systems and operate in a moderate or moderate-high risk context, which was reflected in lower safety output scores. Companies tend to invest first in the control strategies whereas assurance activities such as verification and validation seem to require more time and effort to achieve advanced levels. Our study demonstrated that also small and medium enterprises managed to have advanced systems, and achieve a good safety output. However, their typical organisational characteristics such as less resources (educated staff, laboratory facilities, time), more restricted formalisation (restricted use of procedures and formal meetings), limited information systems, but more stable workforce, might require more tailored support from government and/or branch organisations to develop towards advanced systems in the case of high-risk products and processes. More in-depth studies to successful SMEs could give insight in best practices to improve FSMS performance.     

Opinion of the food processors, wholesale and retail companies towards the Program for Product Quality Analysis in São Paulo, Brazil

This research seeks to identify the opinion of food manufacturing, wholesale and retail companies towards the Program for Product Quality Analysis in Brazil. Managers from 11 food manufacturing companies and six wholesalers and retailers from the State of São Paulo were interviewed. The results showed that there is a lack of knowledge of the official methodology adopted by the program. The food processors were concerned about the impact the divulging of the results of these analyses would have on the wholesalers and retailers. In addition, they contested the way in which the results were divulged. However the majority of the interviewees believed that the general effect of the program on the society was positive.     

A new global scientific tool for the assessment and prioritization of chemical hazards in food raw materials

The purpose of this study is to develop a globally valid chemical risk assessment tool that provides the user with a priority rating in terms of which chemicals are important to manage in raw materials. The process entails the use of decision trees that enable the determination of risk (or “likelihood to cause harm”), and severity using objective and transparent selection criteria. Taken together, severity and risk are positioned in an HACCP-like matrix informing on the prioritization level of each combination of chemical hazard and raw material. The proposed model is intended to be adequately protective for consumer's health, as it considers a conservative food intake scenario, as well as various sources of contaminant exposure. The model's design is flexible and can easily be adapted to the needs of different food product categories and scenarios. Case studies are presented to illustrate the feasibility of the approach, and the model was tested using several examples, the results of which are consistent with existing data in the literature.     

Barriers and benefits of the implementation of food safety management systems among the Turkish dairy industry: A case study

The aim of this research was to determine the barriers and advantages of the Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and food safety programs (FSPS) employed by the dairy industry in Ayd?n, Turkey. By conducting face-to-face interviews and using questionnaires, the structure of Ayd?n dairy plants’ food safety management systems was characterized. The questionnaires elicited information about the applications of food safety systems, dairy plant managers’ opinions about any inspection systems, and their expectations for government and local legal authorities in food safety systems. Twenty-eight operating dairy plants in Ayd?n with a production licence from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock show activity in the sector for more than 10 years (53.5%) with joint-stock or limited company status (60.7%). These plants produce white cheese, fermented milk products and butter. Implementing a clear and efficient food safety management system can improve legal issues (85.7%) and increase client trust (64.3%). This is positively correlated with the ages of dairy plant managers in the dairy industry in Ayd?n (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01). All the same, not understanding the HACCP was specified as one of the main barriers to its utilization. Almost half of managers (46.5%) reported not really knowing what HACCP was, while 35.8% reported that it was too expensive to employ. On the other hand, the main difficulties with prerequisite program (PRP) applications in Ayd?n dairy plants was determined to be a result of insufficient physical conditions (35.7%) and cost (46.4%).A lack of knowledge relating to and the cost of HACCP and other food safety programs were the main barriers to implementation in the Ayd?n dairy industry. Providing periodical training and consultation services for FSMS applications in the dairy industry by the government and also providing financial support must be provided.     

Hygiene knowledge and practices of night market food vendors in Tainan City, Taiwan

Night markets are a unique part of Taiwanese culture and are ideal places to visit to taste local delicacies. “Visiting night markets” not only has become a habit for local residents, but also a particular favorite for non-local tourists. Street food vending in the night markets has been increasing for several years but this growth presents public health challenges, with evidence of diarrheal diseases. Therefore, there are emerging needs for understanding the hygiene knowledge and practices of food vendors to ensure hygienic preparation of street foods. This empirical study can be used in understanding the current situation of food hygiene practices in tourist night markets and in exploring proper strategies for improving food safety at the markets.