Assessment of Food Safety Knowledge and Practices among Household Kitchens in Khartoum State

Abstract

This study was carried out in Khartoum state (Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahari) to assess food safety knowledge and practice in the household kitchens and to assess whether they complie with the 5 keys to safer food recommended by world health organization and to know some diseases temporarily that prevent women from cooking food. The data collected from 90 women by conducting questionnaire. The participants were randomly underwent a questionnaire-based interview at their home, 96.7% of participants had adequate knowledge regarding food contamination ,87.8% Keep packages of raw meat and poultry separate from other foods during shopping and 90.9 % from participates applied key 1( keeping clean). Data showed that there was an insufficient amount of knowledge regarding applied cooking thoroughly (key 3) and keeping food at safe temperatures (key4) in many families, about 65.6% of participants cooking thoroughly and 62.4 % of them keep food at safe temperatures. In univariate analysis, a significant association under significant level of p-value < 0.05: where it recorded highly association observed between level of education and the age ( p-value) = 0.000 ). Many cases occurred from food-borne diseases mainly due to mistakes during both food preparation and storage. The findings confirmed that the home environment play an important role for the spread of pathogens responsible for foodborne diseases. In conclusion in order to adopt good hygiene practices in the home setting, continued education of consumers about food safety issues should be conducted. Consumers should use the Five Keys to Safer Food behavioral methodology. Food safety education should be intensified to women so as to ensure that Information is put into the daily life practices. The five keys to food safety must also be introduced into the curriculum to raise people awareness regarding food safety in order to reduce food borne diseases.