Knowledge, attitude and practices towards safe food handling compliance among food handlers in school canteens / Rohaida Mohd Jalani

This study discusses regarding the case of food poisoning in school canteen in which it roots from personal hygiene, practices of food handlers, the contact between raw foods and cooked food, safe storage and handling, employee training and more. The main objective of this study is to examine the factors of knowledge, attitude, and practices that influence food handling compliance among the food handlers in schools at Sungai Petani, Kuala Muda, Kedah. These factors are very important to be studied as they are considered as crucial aspects in preparing and presenting the food. In this study, the food handlers that work at school canteens are chosen as the samples because they are a group of workers that interact directly and deal with students at the schools. A multistage cluster stratified sampling approach is used. Questionnaire was administered in the form of close-ended question to measure the dependent variables of the study. Data were analysed with Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) of AMOS software. Demographic profiles of the respondents in the study were analysed accordingly. This study confirmed the examination of the hypothesized model using goodness of fit statistics. The sample size of food handlers in schools a Sungai Petani, Kuala Muda Kedah used is 310 food handlers for this study. Findings from SEM show that knowledge and attitude were found to be significant predictors towards food safety compliances. Knowledge was the highest contributing factor towards food safety compliances compared to attitude. However, practices were found as insignificant predictor to food safety compliances. This study had contributed to the body of knowledge by focusing on knowledge, attitude, practices that influence food handling compliance in school canteens.