Masia Tirhani Asnath
University of Venda
South Africa
Title: Food safety knowledge and food-handling practices of women responsible for food preparation in the households of mangweni village of ehlanzeni district in mpumalanga province, South Africa
Biography
Biography: Masia Tirhani Asnath
Abstract
Objectives: The study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge and food-handling practices among women responsible for food preparation in the households of Mangweni village with regard to food safety.
Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. Data were collected from 120 women responsible for food preparation through face-to-face questionnaire. Data was statistically analysed using SPSS.
Results: The age distribution of women ranged from 19 to 43 years with the mean age of 29.9 (SD = ±1.39). 58.3% of the women had attained secondary level of education and 33.3% had tertiary education. The findings on the level of food safety knowledge revealed that 1.6% of the women had adequate knowledge, 53.9% had satisfactory knowledge and 44.5% had limited knowledge. Age and educational level had no influence on the level of food safety knowledge. With regard to food-handling practices, women reported good practices in some of the aspects. For example, 56.7% of the women washed hands with soap and water before handling food and 51.7% place frozen meat at the lower shelf of the trolley at the end of shopping trip.
Conclusion: The results show the need of educational initiatives on food safety practices in the households among women as they usually the one responsible for food preparation.
